‘Nuclear Visions: The Atomic Photographers Guild,’ Exhibition

The Atomic Photographers Guild (APG) is an international collective of artists dedicated to making visible all facets of the nuclear age. APG was created in 1987 by Robert Del Tredici, with founding members Carole Gallagher, Kenji Higuchi and Harris Fogel. APG documents the history, impact and ongoing legacy of the atomic age – emphasizing nuclear weapons mass-production, atomic testing and proliferation, nuclear power, reactor accidents, attempts at radioactive waste-management, irradiated landscapes, radiation-affected populations and making the invisible (radiation, loss, death, contamination, exposure) visible.

The APG has an archive of images from 1945 to the present. Prominent works include prints by the first two atomic photographers: Berlyn Brixner of Los Alamos and Yoshito Matsushige of Hiroshima, both included in this exhibition. Brixner was the official photographer of the first nuclear bomb test, Trinity, in the Alamogordo desert, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945; Matsushige was the only photographer to document the atomic bombing of Hiroshima from within the city on August 6, 1945. Carole Gallagher’s work, also included in the show, documents the damage done to down-winders in southern Utah living under clouds of atomic fallout from the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s and early 60s. Robert Del Tredici has photographed the U.S. H-bomb factory complex, uranium mining in the U.S. and Canada, nuclear waste sites, A-Bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and atomic survivors in the U.S. and former USSR. APG members engage the socio-political, discursive, ethical and ecological dimensions of the nuclear era. Through exhibitions, screenings, publications and lectures, members of the APG actively disseminate their work, piecing together the fragments of what could be our darkest, most enduring legacy.

Nuclear Visions was co-curated by APG members elin o’Hara slavick and Robert Del Tredici. Not all APG photographers are included in this exhibition. There will be a table of nuclear-related books, some by APG photographers, included in the show.

For more information, visit the Department of Art and Art History website.