TY - JOUR
T1 - The mirror of memory
T2 - Constructions of hell in the Marukis' nuclear murals
AU - Eubanks, Charlotte
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - How does art cultivate moral reflexivity? Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi, eyewitnesses to the atomic aftermath at Hiroshima, were the first artists to publicly display works showing the effects of nuclear irradiation on the human body. While their work has long been considered antiwar, few attempts have been made to theorize how their compositions structure an ethical response to aggression. Three interconnected zones of representation are explored: the artists' murals, Toshi's testimonials regarding the creation of the murals, and the museum in which the murals are displayed. Bringing Japanese Buddhist traditions for the depiction of suffering (etoki 'picture explanation,' hell screen art) into conversation with contemporary theories of performance (Turner's concept of the "subjunctive mood," Taylor's notion of "the repertoire"), memory (Kansteiner's "collected memory," Auron's "pain of knowledge"), and museum studies (Crane's "distortion"), I articulate a contemporary Japanese model of nuclear criticism.
AB - How does art cultivate moral reflexivity? Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi, eyewitnesses to the atomic aftermath at Hiroshima, were the first artists to publicly display works showing the effects of nuclear irradiation on the human body. While their work has long been considered antiwar, few attempts have been made to theorize how their compositions structure an ethical response to aggression. Three interconnected zones of representation are explored: the artists' murals, Toshi's testimonials regarding the creation of the murals, and the museum in which the murals are displayed. Bringing Japanese Buddhist traditions for the depiction of suffering (etoki 'picture explanation,' hell screen art) into conversation with contemporary theories of performance (Turner's concept of the "subjunctive mood," Taylor's notion of "the repertoire"), memory (Kansteiner's "collected memory," Auron's "pain of knowledge"), and museum studies (Crane's "distortion"), I articulate a contemporary Japanese model of nuclear criticism.
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U2 - 10.1632/pmla.2009.124.5.1614
DO - 10.1632/pmla.2009.124.5.1614
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:77049096297
SN - 0030-8129
VL - 124
SP - 1614-1631+1946-1947
JO - PMLA
JF - PMLA
IS - 5
ER -