Hiroshima Mon Amour: Starhead, Twins, Ishiuchi Miyako > focusing on joy in this time of international trouble

the magic of a string of ballons flying

over the entranceway to the A-Bombed Bank

where I have spent many hours

wave of glass

transformed melted warped

parenthetical A-bombed bottle

with ridges

alone in a sea of my oddly handcoated

cyanotype paper

Exterior (yayoi kusama anyone?) of Frapbois - a Japanese designed and Japanese made clothing store where I spent far too much money but at least I love them

beautiful suspended hangers at the resto last night with Ishiuchi Miyako

HIROHIMA YOUNG HELLOWORK

I first met / learned of Ishiuchi Miyako at Hiroshima MOCA in 2008 at the opening of her unforgettable and brilliant show HIROSHIMA STRINGS OF TIME

for which she photographed A-bombed artifacts that HAD TOUCHED HUMAN SKIN

on lightboxes to reveal every stitch and scar, hole and burn, texture and emptiness -

with the help of the same amazing curator at the Peace Museum that I work with -

in th esame archive - Mari Shimomura......last night I ended up being able to join a dinner with her after the screening of a new documentary on her photographing Frida Kahlo's belongings...

she always wears these gloves:

We talked shop: cameras, film, photography, masculine photographers, museums, curators. She told me that she ONLY USES FILM STILL; has no cell phone or computer (she has assistants and fame and beauty and skill and wonder and soul)....

She hung out with Robert Frankl at the Getty at her retrospective that I will get to see when I go to LA in February to deliver a keynote speech at a nuclear weapons conference at Claremont McKenna....Robert Frank has appeared in my dreams more than any other "famous / admired" person. I either introduce him at a major event or I am unable to get in the auditorium. Robert Frank shares the same place in Miyako-san and my hearts: FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHER

Showing me a photo in her sweet little photo album with GETTY 2015 scrawled on the cover in thick black marker - of a picture of ICP cuator Chirtopher Phillips in a kimono she gave him

here I am writing down the dates and time and place of my solo show in Tokyo - she may come! my heart quakes....I will give her my After Hiroshima book toady, inscribed with admiration and awe...