A Light Within: Meditations on Nuclear Annihilation

by Jabez L. Van Cleef

In 2015, I traveled with the United Nations Staff Recreation Council Singers to Japan. Our purpose was to assist in the memorial ceremonies for commemoration of the 70th anniversary of bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We performed concerts in these cities and also in Tokyo. In Tokyo I visited a Buddhist temple and purchased a small folding book that told the story of the life of the Buddha. There was printing only on one side. I decided to make the book into an art object by applying free writing in black ink to the unprinted (back) surface and selectively applying paint, charcoal and other materials to the printed (front) surface. When I was finished treating the book I took photos of it. A year or so later one of my daughters gave me a (physically) similar book she had bought on a trip to China. I treated this book in the same way and took photographs of it. Over a period of several years I collected passages from several 19th century American authors that reflected their thoughts about the relationship between inanimate objects and the spirits of the dead. I interspersed these passages with the photos I had taken and made this book as a commentary on the complex understanding of blame and guilt in cross-cultural affairs.

Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2019