SCOTLAND’S Makar Kathleen Jamie will join poets from Ukraine to open a new exhibition centred on art and activism in the nuclear age.
The show in Edinburgh is the culmination of the Peace Cranes project, which included the installation of 140,000 paper peace cranes of hope and resilience at St John’s Church in the city centre – one for each of the victims of the US attack on Hiroshima in 1945.
To complete the project, the Consequences exhibition comprises films, photography and installations by over 20 Scottish and international artists who consider the political, humanitarian and ecological consequences of the nuclear age – from the first nuclear attack on Japan up to and including the current situation in Ukraine.
Peace & Justice (Scotland) is collaborating with the Scottish Poetry Library for the show and Jamie, alongside Scottish and Ukrainian poets, will introduce and read at the official exhibition opening on August 19.
The exhibition will close on September 3 with a screening of The Vow From Hiroshima, a documentary about Hiroshima survivor and anti-nuclear campaigner Setsuko Thurlow, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Iliyana Nedkova, co-curator of the project, said it was “an attempt to understand, document and witness the devastating harm of nuclear power coupled with the human capacity to envision and eventually realise a nuclear weapons-free world”.
She added: “All but a couple of the works in the Consequences exhibition are showing in Scotland for the first time, alongside two brand-new commissions by Pam Skelton and Mare Tralla. However, the raw and urgent work of Ukrainian artists Maxim Dondyuk, Alla Georgieva, Alena Rogozhkina, Daria Svertilova, Elena Subach and Helen Zhgir take centre stage.”
Janet Fenton, Peace & Justice (Scotland), said: ‘It is very fitting that the finale of our Peace Cranes project should take place this year.
“While there is still a way to go, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has outlawed nuclear weapons completely in more than 60 countries, with at least 20 more in the immediate pipeline. In June, those countries met under the auspices of the United Nations to share their plans for complete global nuclear disarmament.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here