Photo/Illutration Atomic bomb survivor Isamu Hiraki, left, views a painting drawn by art student Nanaka Ikeda, right, based on his wartime experiences. This photo was taken in Fukuoka in July. (Noriki Nishioka)

FUKUOKA--Isamu Hiraki vividly remembers the intense lights he saw as the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.

“I saw a red light resembling a sticky string, and the next moment, a purple flash ran through the city of Nagasaki,” said Hiraki, 85, who was climbing a loquat tree about four kilometers from ground zero.

Art student Nanaka Ikeda, 20, re-created what Hiraki saw as an impressive work of white paint radiating from the center of a black canvas.

Ikeda and two fellow students at Kyushu Sangyo University’s Faculty of Art and Design drew paintings about the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima based on firsthand accounts of Hiraki and two other survivors.

A group of atomic bomb survivors in Fukuoka asked the university to produce paintings to convey the horrors of war and atomic bombings by portraying the feelings of survivors that photographs cannot express.

The three students stepped forward, began listening to the survivors’ tales in December and spent the next six months painting. Their completed works were presented to the group in late July.

Ikeda first created four basic designs, stretching her imagination to the fullest, but Hiraki was initially unimpressed.

“It was entirely different,” he said. “It was like a light that pierced my body with many needles."

Ikeda continued to listen to Hiraki, who would use gestures to explain what he experienced.

She also visited ground zero, watched war-related films and read documents.

"I asked too much, and (Ikeda) re-drew her painting over and over," Hiraki said after her work was completed.

“The final work is compelling and brings home to viewers the terror of an atomic bombing.” 

“Light is something warm under normal circumstances, but light from an atomic bomb is horrifying,” Ikeda said. “I came to realize that the atomic bombing was real.”

Maika Sugawara, 20, painted a sad-looking mother and small boy standing in burned-out ruins based on the experience of Michiya Okazaki.

Okazaki, 87, was evacuating with his mother and younger sister two days after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

“I hate war,” his mother murmured, looking at bodies stacked up under a bridge.

At the time, people who opposed war would be denounced as unpatriotic.

Sugawara was particularly struck when she heard Okazaki saying he was worried that other adults might hear what his mother said.

The boy in the painting appears to be worriedly looking around.

“War became something personal to me after I heard from a living witness,” she said. “We also want to send a message that we hate war.”

Wakana Miyasako, 21, painted a picture based on the experience of Hiroko Nakagawa, who crossed a river while fleeing after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

In the painting bodies of atomic bomb victims pile up on a riverbank. Survivors droop lifelessly, their skin heavily burnt.

“My awareness about war and atomic bombings has changed,” Miyasako said. “I tried to express not only sadness but mortification (of atomic bomb survivors).”

Like Hiraki and Okazaki, Nakagawa, 82, has been telling her atomic-bomb experiences.

“I want to continue to tell my story while carrying this picture with me,” she said.

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