Nagasaki,

1962, printed 1988

Tōmatsu was Japan’s preeminent postwar photographer. In Nagasaki 11:02, his best-known series, Tōmatsu documented the lives of those who survived the atomic blast of August 9, 1945. These haunting portraits remind us that a single act of destruction creates endless physical, and psychological, pain. Here, Tōmatsu confronts us with the scarred face of a survivor. With eyes averting the camera’s gaze, Senji Yamaguchi emerges from the shadows, allowing us to see the keloid scars—particular to the aftermath of a nuclear attack—that mar his upper body. Knots and skeins of pulled skin run up and down his neck and jawbone, their irregularities glistening in the bright light. Instead of hiding the trauma of Nagasaki in the annals of history, Tōmatsu reminds us that, in order to construct a nonviolent future, we must remember and face suffering.