This exhibition is very close to my heart.. Both artists are former students, and I have been wanting to tell their story for a very long time. 

I met Yumiko Glover in 2009, when she took a Drawing Marathon class with me at the University of Hawai'i. Ten years later, I invited her to do an artist talk for my students at Leeward Community College. The talk was very moving; Yumiko shared stories about how Hiroshima informed her work, and about her grandfather who had survived the atomic bomb by pure chance- he was away on a work trip. After the lecture the lights came on and in the corner, Misuzu Fukeda sat silently, with tears streaming down her face. I went up to her and asked her if she wanted to talk to Yumiko, and she said that she couldn't, that it was too painful, because she was a survivor. 

That moment changed me forever. It was beyond surreal: My classroom overlooked Pearl Harbor, and in that room were a survivor of the atomic bomb and the granddaughter of a survivor. 

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I have spent years thinking of ways to reconcile the work of these two very different painters. Last year, when Misuzu sent me images of the portraits she'd been working on (many from memory), I knew I had to organize this exhibition. In Misu's work, rotten flesh is represented by rotten fruit, teeth are not where they are supposed to be, and the assault of the bomb is manifested through the force of the mark delivered with paint. Misu's paintings are an experience, and no one leaves untouched. They are difficult works but necessary ones. They confront you with the silent cries of the departed and their echos remain in your psyche. 

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Yumiko's work is made from a different lens, processed through decades of heard stories, extensive research and personal history. Though not a survivor herself, one can sense the quiet insistence of history, emerging from war clouds, colored with patterns of vintage kimonos that highlight what the true cost of this horrific bomb was: humans and humanity itself. 

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As we reflect on these works, I hope that people leave with a deeper understanding of the impact of weaponry and war. It is a very real thing, and we continue to witness it happening all over the world. When will our collective humanity prevail? 

 

- Reem Bassous

 

Executive Artistic Director​