Page 3: Overview of Recent Collaborations
"At first glance, a show of collaborative works looks like any other exhibition. After more reflection, however, two themes seem pervasive. One is research-based art, in which, for example, ecological, archeological, or architectural themes are explored, usually through photography, sculpture, installations, or some combination of the three. The other is a preoccupation with politics." Glenn Zorpette, ArtNews Summer 1994
Iri Maruki 1901-1995 Toshi Maruki 1912-2000
"Ghost" Hiroshima Panels
Married couple, Iri and Toshi Maruki lost family and friends when the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Iri left Tokyo for Hiroshima on the first train from Tokyo, three days after the Bomb was dropped. Toshi followed a few days later. Two kilometers from the center of the explosion, the family house was still standing. But the roof and roof tiles were mostly gone, windows had been blown out, and even the pans, dishes, and chopsticks had been blasted out of their places in the kitchen.
In what was left of the burned structure, rescued bomb victims were gathered together and lay on the floor from wall to wall until it was full. They carried the injured, cremated the dead, searched for food, and found scorched sheets of tin to patch the roof.
With the stench of death and the flies and the maggots all around them, they wandered about in the same manner as those who had experienced the Bomb.
Nine hundreds sketches were merged together to create the first paintings.