FROM CHALK BOARD TO THE LAUNCH PAD AND CEMETERY --
EXPLORATIONS OF OUR NUCLEAR HISTORY
COMPILED BY LISA GRAVES
ABOUT ME
I am a Fort Bragg, California, based artist, recently relocated from Salt Lake City after 2 ½ decades. I have been drawing and painting for over 30 years and professionally for more than ten. I worked with the Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons for five years while living in Utah. This exhibit includes paintings, drawings, and information drawn from a broad range of sources, all delving into the development of the Atomic Bomb and the American response and denial thereof.
ABOUT THIS EXHIBIT
The exhibit before you was seven years in the making. My interest in "The Bomb" began, as with many things in life, with a bit of serendipity. While at a used bookstore unsuccessfully researching another topic, I came across several texts about the atomic bomb. Not knowing anything about it, I was intrigued. I bought the books and was quickly hooked. My previous project fell by the wayside and was replaced by a new obsession.
I have always avoided all-things scientific, yet now I was voluntarily reading about physicists; the discovery of the atom; Alpha-, Beta-, and Gamma-particles; the artificial creation of isotopes to see if they were radioactive. Charts began to take shape on the wall of my studio, a roughly drawn map of the world with threads tracing the movement of scientists from their home countries to universities abroad and then to laboratories around the globe. People from all over collaborated on research projects. I made lists of scientists, discoveries, inventions and breakthroughs that led to still further discoveries.
I lived in Salt Lake City at the time and soon learned of a local group called the Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (UCAN) that was hosting a memorial service to Downwinders. I’d heard the term “Downwinder” before and on a whim decided to go to the service. My heart was taken aback. I joined UCAN and worked with them for several years. It was during this time that I began a series of drawings of scientists. After a break, I shifted focus to the development of The Bomb, the mining of uranium, and atomic weapons-testing in the continental US and the Pacific. I gained a basic understanding of scale, of the 1000s of people (military and civilian) who were exposed to nuclear fallout (whether on-the-job or in their day-to-day lives hundreds of miles away from the test sites), and also about the deadly consequences of those tests. I learned that government officials knowingly withheld information and safety gear from miners and soldiers. I began to wonder how much, if any, of this history is taught in our schools. The Downwinder experience is a key part of Utah history.
This exhibit is my beginning contribution to educating “my fellow Americans” on our grievous shared history. I begin with a calendar. Who doesn’t have a wall calendar somewhere in their home? We use them to record important dates: births, car and doctor appointments, parties, and funerals. My calendar (displayed here on the wall) lists the names and dates of above-ground (i.e., atmospheric) nuclear tests in Nevada. Other tests were conducted in Alaska, Colorado, and Mississippi. These are just ones conducted by our government. It does not include tests by France, the former Soviet Union, China, or England.
HISTORY AS I UNDERSTAND IT
Through the course of my research, a brief history jelled in my mind. The advent of World War II. Lines were drawn. People who’d worked together for years, often as mentor and students, were now literally at war with one another. Quickly planned escapes, sponsored emigrations, yet still the scientific research continued. There was an ever-widening realization among physicists of the possibility and potential for an atomic weapon. The race was on. Research was no longer freely shared across borders.
America was “lucky” as the war was not in our backyard. We had abundant natural resources and even more money to throw at the Manhattan Project, the secret undertaking that led to the development of the first nuclear weapons. Processing plants were built, tens of thousands of workers relocated for jobs to do their small bit for the war effort. As is common in Defense industries, SECRECY was key. Employees only knew what they needed to in order to do their specific job – no more.
Initially this secrecy policy also applied to the scientists at Los Alamos. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos lab that designed the actual bombs, balked. In order for scientists to do their job, it was imperative that they were aware of the big picture. Policies were changed and the scientists (but not the underlying workers) were once again able to share developments with one another. Only after the first atomic bomb was dropped in Japan did people working in Manhattan Project factories across the country realize just what they’d been working on for several years.
WHAT YOU SEE IN THIS EXHIBIT
Here is an overview of what there is to see in this exhibit:
I am a Fort Bragg, California, based artist, recently relocated from Salt Lake City after 2 ½ decades. I have been drawing and painting for over 30 years and professionally for more than ten. I worked with the Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons for five years while living in Utah. This exhibit includes paintings, drawings, and information drawn from a broad range of sources, all delving into the development of the Atomic Bomb and the American response and denial thereof.
ABOUT THIS EXHIBIT
The exhibit before you was seven years in the making. My interest in "The Bomb" began, as with many things in life, with a bit of serendipity. While at a used bookstore unsuccessfully researching another topic, I came across several texts about the atomic bomb. Not knowing anything about it, I was intrigued. I bought the books and was quickly hooked. My previous project fell by the wayside and was replaced by a new obsession.
I have always avoided all-things scientific, yet now I was voluntarily reading about physicists; the discovery of the atom; Alpha-, Beta-, and Gamma-particles; the artificial creation of isotopes to see if they were radioactive. Charts began to take shape on the wall of my studio, a roughly drawn map of the world with threads tracing the movement of scientists from their home countries to universities abroad and then to laboratories around the globe. People from all over collaborated on research projects. I made lists of scientists, discoveries, inventions and breakthroughs that led to still further discoveries.
I lived in Salt Lake City at the time and soon learned of a local group called the Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (UCAN) that was hosting a memorial service to Downwinders. I’d heard the term “Downwinder” before and on a whim decided to go to the service. My heart was taken aback. I joined UCAN and worked with them for several years. It was during this time that I began a series of drawings of scientists. After a break, I shifted focus to the development of The Bomb, the mining of uranium, and atomic weapons-testing in the continental US and the Pacific. I gained a basic understanding of scale, of the 1000s of people (military and civilian) who were exposed to nuclear fallout (whether on-the-job or in their day-to-day lives hundreds of miles away from the test sites), and also about the deadly consequences of those tests. I learned that government officials knowingly withheld information and safety gear from miners and soldiers. I began to wonder how much, if any, of this history is taught in our schools. The Downwinder experience is a key part of Utah history.
This exhibit is my beginning contribution to educating “my fellow Americans” on our grievous shared history. I begin with a calendar. Who doesn’t have a wall calendar somewhere in their home? We use them to record important dates: births, car and doctor appointments, parties, and funerals. My calendar (displayed here on the wall) lists the names and dates of above-ground (i.e., atmospheric) nuclear tests in Nevada. Other tests were conducted in Alaska, Colorado, and Mississippi. These are just ones conducted by our government. It does not include tests by France, the former Soviet Union, China, or England.
HISTORY AS I UNDERSTAND IT
Through the course of my research, a brief history jelled in my mind. The advent of World War II. Lines were drawn. People who’d worked together for years, often as mentor and students, were now literally at war with one another. Quickly planned escapes, sponsored emigrations, yet still the scientific research continued. There was an ever-widening realization among physicists of the possibility and potential for an atomic weapon. The race was on. Research was no longer freely shared across borders.
America was “lucky” as the war was not in our backyard. We had abundant natural resources and even more money to throw at the Manhattan Project, the secret undertaking that led to the development of the first nuclear weapons. Processing plants were built, tens of thousands of workers relocated for jobs to do their small bit for the war effort. As is common in Defense industries, SECRECY was key. Employees only knew what they needed to in order to do their specific job – no more.
Initially this secrecy policy also applied to the scientists at Los Alamos. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos lab that designed the actual bombs, balked. In order for scientists to do their job, it was imperative that they were aware of the big picture. Policies were changed and the scientists (but not the underlying workers) were once again able to share developments with one another. Only after the first atomic bomb was dropped in Japan did people working in Manhattan Project factories across the country realize just what they’d been working on for several years.
WHAT YOU SEE IN THIS EXHIBIT
Here is an overview of what there is to see in this exhibit:
- Calendar pages - Showing the dates of bomb testing in Nevada, a small subset of all testing worldwide.
- Bomb paintings -- My take on three of the bomb tests, based on photographs taken at the time.
- Portraits -- My sketches of the scientists, politicians, and others involved in the atomic and nuclear worlds.
- Maps -- Maps of locations that mined uranium, of where the bomb was created, and where they were tested. There are also maps showing where the highest levels of radioactive fallout landed (although it should be noted that there is fallout EVERYWHERE).
- Photos -- A compilation related to people, places, and activities.
- Video -- Still photos and videos related to The Bomb.