Shirt and Lunchbox
These images depict the shirt and lunch box of a 13 year old boy named Yushiro Mutsuoka who died after the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. The shirt, as well as Yushiro’s skin was left dangling off of his body as a result of the bomb, and he walked home where his family met him and fled to the riverside. He died there the next day. His lunchbox, with his name inscribed, was found shortly thereafter. These artifacts stand as reminders of the human cost of warfare. While many argue that the bomb was a necessary evil to avoid further, long term destruction as a result of WWII, it is important to remember the human, child lives that are being debated during this political decision making. Artifacts from warfare serve to remind the viewer that there is far more than politics on the line during warfare. Estimates for lives lost due to the bombing of Hiroshima are as high as 200,000, and preservation of these objects humanize these numbers in ways the viewer cannot ignore when encountering them. Label by Gwyneth McCrae