World War II Collage

For my Drawing III class last Spring, I created this collage on a bulletin board, using the above images of my drawings. The design is fragmented, each image representing aspects of World War II. The portrait of the Japanese woman on the lower left is based on an old photograph from my father-in law's scrapbook, a collection of his memories as a sailor stationed in Japan; the portrait of the American woman on the lower right is based on a photograph of a worker at one of the plants in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where nuclear energy was produced for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.

The two images in the upper right are the Japanese men and American sailors in the photograph who stood by idly, while the Japanese woman stopped to nurse her baby. The two images in the upper left are designs that are depicted on the liberty bell that was presented as a token of peace to Oak Ridge city officials during the late 1990's.

The image in the upper center is based on a photograph of the stone steps that originally led to the liberty bell, which was recently moved to another location in the Oak Ridge city park. This image, called Steps to Oblivion, depicts the mushroom cloud from one of the atomic bombs that was dropped on Japan. The image in the lower center is based on a photograph of an actual billboard in Oak Ridge during World War II, depicting a married couple planting a victory garden.

I deliberately chose to place these fragmented images in a unique arrangement that would demonstrate the connections between these various aspects of the historical events during World War II. My collage represents the cultural perspectives of both America and Japan, based on their war experiences, which have created a lasting legacy for Oak Ridge, my hometown.