On 6 August 1945 twin atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing between 300,000 and 900,000 people. It is an act that continues to haunt our collective history and spark global debate.
In the run up to the seventieth anniversary of the attack, Pentagram partner Harry Pearce was asked to submit a work exploring the enduring affects of the the attack for the University of Maryland Art Gallery's ‘Questioning the Bomb’ exhibition. In the resulting poster, It's All Our Blood, Pearce used his own blood to show how much the events of that day still weigh on all our shoulders.
Pearce says: “I used my own blood to illustrate that in the end all our blood was symbolically spilt that day. We all still live under the cloud of what was done, and what could still be done, to us all. It's a humble expression of empathy.”
The poster is a photograph of a drop of blood hitting the water’s surface, creating a deep red cloud similar to an atomic explosion. In the lead up to the shoot photographer Richard Foster experimented with ink, water temperatures, drop heights and Harry’s blood to create the perfect shape. The image used in the poster is the last frame of the final day.
The photograph is set on a white background with grey and black type marking the locations and times that the atomic bombs were dropped.
To accompany the poster Pearce has created a video showing the design process from doctors office to photography studio to print makers.
Special thanks to Dr J Beach, Gary Bird at Gavin Martin Colournet and Steve Hackett for providing music for the film.
