Witnesses to Radioactive Contamination 193
11. See Carolin Artz, Indizieren—Visualisieren: Über die fotografische Aufzeichnung von
Strahlen (Berlin: Kadmos, 2011), 110–120.
12. In order to verify it, it helps to reconstruct the history of the making of the photography, since it could also be overexposure by light rays.
13. In Matsushige’s photographs of Hiroshima, I assume that the hybrid form of
inscription can be traced back to radioactivity and adjusting the visual features to
the story of the making of the photographs: Matsushige was taking pictures near
ground zero for several hours shortly after the explosion.
14. See Figure 8.1, Yoshito Matsushige, Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, and Figure 8.2,
Igor Kostin, Aerial photograph of the Chernobyl power plant, April 26, 1968.
15. Of his five photographs in all, the first two were taken on the Miyuki-bashi
Bridge, one of which was a closeup. The third shows the couple’s personal surroundings: Ms. Matsushige searching for valuables in her destroyed hair stylist
salon. The fourth is the view from the window of the salon toward the collapsed
Nishi fire station. The final picture shows the policeman Tokuo Fujita wearing a
head bandage and sitting at table where the victims are being handed certificates
for bread ration tickets.
16. Ibid., 188.
17. The concept of pictorial interference goes back to Peter Geimer, who interprets
it as being between imaging and image-interfering. See Peter Geimer, “Was ist
kein Bild? Zur ‘Störung und Verweisung,’” in Peter Geimer, ed., Ordnungen der
Sichtbarkeit: Fotografie in Wissenschaft, Kunst und Technologie (Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp, 2002), 313–341, esp. 313–326.
18. When the American occupation ended, (April 28, 1952), these images were published in the August 1952 issue of the journal Asahi gurafu. The magazine Asahi
gurafu initially published Matsushige’s photographs in a special edition on August
6, 1952. This edition was titled “First Exposé of A-Bomb Damage.” This special edition sold out so quickly that four additional printings were run, replacing
the original color cover with a black-and-white one. The total circulation of this
special edition was approximately 700,000. Life magazine published Matsushige’s
photographs in the September 29, 1952, issue with the article “When Atom Bomb
Struck—Uncensored.”
19. Michael Lucken, “Von der Ordnung in der Zerstörung: Die japanischen Fotografien der Bombardierung Hiroshimas und Nagasakis,” in Atombilder: Ikonographie des Atoms in Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit des 20. Jahrhunderts, ed. Deutsches
Museum (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2009), 177–185, esp. 179.
20. Robert del Tredici is an artist, photographer, and teacher with a BA in philosophy, an MA in Comparative Literature (University of California, Berkeley), and
an interest in the dynamic between image and text. In 1987, Robert del Tredici
founded the Atomic Photographers Guild.
21. Quoted in Robert del Tredici, At Work in the Fields of the Bomb (New York, NY:
Perennial, 1987), 187.
22. See Greg Mitchell: “Inscribing Hiroshima: The photography of Matsushige Yoshito,”
in The Asia-Pacific Journal 35 (2005): 1–3, http://www.japanfocus.org/-GregMitchell/1562/article.html.
23. Greg Mitchell adds about the situation of developing the film: “Under a star-filled
sky, with the landscape around him littered with collapsed homes and the center of
Hiroshima still smoldering in the distance, he washed his film in a radiated creek
and hung it out to dry on the burned branch of a tree”; Greg Mitchell, “Inscribing
Hiroshima,” 1–3.
24. Igor Kostin, Chernobyl: Confessions of a Reporter, trans. Ghada Karam (New York,
NY: Umbrage, 2006), 9.
25. Igor Kostin, Chernobyl, 6.
11. See Carolin Artz, Indizieren—Visualisieren: Über die fotografische Aufzeichnung von
Strahlen (Berlin: Kadmos, 2011), 110–120.
12. In order to verify it, it helps to reconstruct the history of the making of the photography, since it could also be overexposure by light rays.
13. In Matsushige’s photographs of Hiroshima, I assume that the hybrid form of
inscription can be traced back to radioactivity and adjusting the visual features to
the story of the making of the photographs: Matsushige was taking pictures near
ground zero for several hours shortly after the explosion.
14. See Figure 8.1, Yoshito Matsushige, Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, and Figure 8.2,
Igor Kostin, Aerial photograph of the Chernobyl power plant, April 26, 1968.
15. Of his five photographs in all, the first two were taken on the Miyuki-bashi
Bridge, one of which was a closeup. The third shows the couple’s personal surroundings: Ms. Matsushige searching for valuables in her destroyed hair stylist
salon. The fourth is the view from the window of the salon toward the collapsed
Nishi fire station. The final picture shows the policeman Tokuo Fujita wearing a
head bandage and sitting at table where the victims are being handed certificates
for bread ration tickets.
16. Ibid., 188.
17. The concept of pictorial interference goes back to Peter Geimer, who interprets
it as being between imaging and image-interfering. See Peter Geimer, “Was ist
kein Bild? Zur ‘Störung und Verweisung,’” in Peter Geimer, ed., Ordnungen der
Sichtbarkeit: Fotografie in Wissenschaft, Kunst und Technologie (Frankfurt am Main:
Suhrkamp, 2002), 313–341, esp. 313–326.
18. When the American occupation ended, (April 28, 1952), these images were published in the August 1952 issue of the journal Asahi gurafu. The magazine Asahi
gurafu initially published Matsushige’s photographs in a special edition on August
6, 1952. This edition was titled “First Exposé of A-Bomb Damage.” This special edition sold out so quickly that four additional printings were run, replacing
the original color cover with a black-and-white one. The total circulation of this
special edition was approximately 700,000. Life magazine published Matsushige’s
photographs in the September 29, 1952, issue with the article “When Atom Bomb
Struck—Uncensored.”
19. Michael Lucken, “Von der Ordnung in der Zerstörung: Die japanischen Fotografien der Bombardierung Hiroshimas und Nagasakis,” in Atombilder: Ikonographie des Atoms in Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit des 20. Jahrhunderts, ed. Deutsches
Museum (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2009), 177–185, esp. 179.
20. Robert del Tredici is an artist, photographer, and teacher with a BA in philosophy, an MA in Comparative Literature (University of California, Berkeley), and
an interest in the dynamic between image and text. In 1987, Robert del Tredici
founded the Atomic Photographers Guild.
21. Quoted in Robert del Tredici, At Work in the Fields of the Bomb (New York, NY:
Perennial, 1987), 187.
22. See Greg Mitchell: “Inscribing Hiroshima: The photography of Matsushige Yoshito,”
in The Asia-Pacific Journal 35 (2005): 1–3, http://www.japanfocus.org/-GregMitchell/1562/article.html.
23. Greg Mitchell adds about the situation of developing the film: “Under a star-filled
sky, with the landscape around him littered with collapsed homes and the center of
Hiroshima still smoldering in the distance, he washed his film in a radiated creek
and hung it out to dry on the burned branch of a tree”; Greg Mitchell, “Inscribing
Hiroshima,” 1–3.
24. Igor Kostin, Chernobyl: Confessions of a Reporter, trans. Ghada Karam (New York,
NY: Umbrage, 2006), 9.
25. Igor Kostin, Chernobyl, 6.