Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

From left to right: Youth fundraising for the Children’s Peace Monument, 1956; Sadako Sasaki, 1954; Children being evacuated from Hiroshima, April 1945. All courtesy the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

80 years ago, on August 6, 1945, Sadako Sasaki was just 2 years old when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, where she lived with her family. Although she survived the blast and was not injured at the time, she began to develop the symptoms of leukemia 9 years later and eventually succumbed to her illness. While she was in the hospital, she folded over 1,000 origami paper cranes, a symbol of good luck. Sadako’s classmates started a national movement to build the Children’s Peace Monument as a tribute to her. The Monument was dedicated in 1958 and sits at the center of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan.

On loan from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, Japan, on the 80th anniversary of the bombing, Sadako and Paper Cranes examines the devastation of nuclear war through the eyes of the youth that experienced the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In addition to the panels, the Japanese American Museum of Oregon has invited local artists, both professional and students, to create works in response to Sadako’s story. This companion exhibit brings together multiple generations of artists to contribute to ongoing discussions about peace and nuclear disarmament. Artists include Erin Shigaki, Lynn Yarne, Marie Johnston, Maya McDarragh, and six students from Grant High School.

Learn more about the artists here.

Sadako and Paper Cranes is on loan from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, Japan, and is generously supported by The George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award and UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center, Lamb-Baldwin Foundation, Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, Portland JACL, and Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation.

Exhibition Programs

Friends of JAMO Reception
Friday, April 25, 5-7pm
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
411 NW Flanders St., Portland
More details will be announced soon.
RSVP by April 23 here.

Student Artists Talk and Tour
Sunday, June 1, 1pm at JAMO
Register here.

Peacebuilding: Finding Common Ground
Workshop with José Barzola
Wednesday, June 11, 6pm, online

Challenging Your Views
Workshop with José Barzola
Thursday, July 17, 6pm, online

More details and programs coming soon.

About the Artists

Erin Shigaki
Erin Shigaki is a yonsei artist and activist born and raised on Coast Salish land (Seattle). She is grounded in the knowledge that her purpose is to tell the Japanese American story in memory of her ancestors and in service of the liberation of all people. She holds a B.A. from Yale University.

Lynn Yarne
Lynn Yarne is a Chinese and Japanese American Yonsei from Portland, OR. She is interested in visual remixing as a process of meaning making, pulling from mixed metaphor and iconography, stories your auntie’s friend told you, traditions you don’t know where they came from, making it up as you go along, and doing with what you have. Though much of her work has stemmed from a family connection to Portland’s Old Town, her curiosity around community, space, and story extends and expands as they encounter the experiences of other communities and individuals.

Yarne works as a teacher in a public school facilitating a screen printing program. She works with over 200 students a year in concepts around self-expression and critical visual communication. As a teacher and artist that often works with people, she approaches the study of engagement with curiosity, worry and intention.

In explorations of site-based work, she wonders about the capacity for art to engage and complicate stakeholdership, to actively involve people in repair and visionary thinking.

Marie Okuma Johnston
Marie Okuma Johnston was born in Japan and moved to Spokane, Washington, at age four, later spending summers in Japan to reconnect with their roots. During these visits, they rediscovered their language and cultural identity, shaping their perspective as a Shin-Issei Japanese American. Marie’s experiences influence their creative projects, incorporating Shinto and Buddhist practices and folklore into their art. Through these themes, they explore current events and use their art as a form of journaling.

Maya McDarragh
Maya McDarragh is an emerging American artist of mixed heritage and identifies most with their Japanese Brazilian roots. Their developing body of work delves into the complexities of personal identity and the experience of existing across multiple cultural landscapes. Through drawing, painting, sculpture, and mixed media, they explore themes of heritage, memory, and belonging—blurring the line between the personal and the universal. Their portraits and subjects invite viewers to reflect on the nuances of a multifaceted existence. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Maya continues to create from their hometown.

Lili Baechel
I’m a student at Grant High School currently in my senior year. I moved to Portland from Japan 6 years ago and I come from a mixed Japanese background. I do not consider myself highly artistic or creative, but I’ve always had a big passion for arts and hands-on projects. I’ve been studying ceramics and screen printing, my favorite mediums to work with, for 3 years. My work is often inspired by my love for music, Studio Ghibli films, my family, and my favorite celebrities. Many of my pieces incorporate aspects of Asian culture and pop culture, whether through traditional motifs, modern media influences, or personal experiences. I enjoy exploring different themes and aesthetics, experimenting with feelings, color, and form.

Hanako Duff
My name is Hanako Duff, and I am a senior at Grant High School. I moved to the United States from Japan at the end of 4th grade with my Japanese mother, American father, and my twin brother. Although I have very little experience with the arts, I love the Japanese community here in Portland, and I’m excited to advocate for our history and heritage!

Sayuri Hara
Hey there! My name is Sayuri Hara, and I am a half-Japanese second-generation Japanese American. I am a senior attending Grant High School and enjoy both 2D and 3D art. I grew up learning about Japanese incarceration, as well as the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I didn’t truly understand the severity of the bombs until reading the Barefoot Gen books, written by atomic bomb survivor Keiji Nakazawa. These books motivated me to write and perform a poem on the Hiroshima Bombing for the annual poetry slam my freshman year of high school and continue learning about the victims and development of the bomb. When I heard about this exhibit, I was excited to get involved and use my art skills to reflect on the destruction caused by the bombing and promote a peaceful future free of nuclear warfare.

Patchen Long
My name is Patchen Long. I have a wide range of interests from computer science, to running, reading, and textile arts like crocheting, embroidery, sewing, and knitting. Along with this I have been doing screen printing for three years at Grant High School.

Lucy Lord
Hi there! My name is Lucy, I am 17 years old and a senior at Grant High School! I love to read, bake, go hiking/camping/backpacking, and go skiing! I work at a gelato shop, and I play lacrosse. I’m also interested in history and mythology/fables, something that drew me to the story of the 1,000 paper cranes. I have a pet dog named Ginny, she’s an English Labrador, and a little sister. I had so much fun creating the piece that Patchen and I made so I hope you enjoy it!

Saya Matoba
Hello, I’m Saya Matoba, and I’m a junior in high school. I play water polo, and I swim. I enjoy painting next to my tuxedo cat, Tux. I’m in the Japanese immersion program and love being in the JDLI community.

Being a half Japanese person, there have been many instances where I have felt torn between my two identities. When people at my school insult Japanese culture, or say, “the Japanese deserved the bomb,” it makes me angry when people talk about something so devastating so lightly. I think more people should know about the effects the bomb had on the people in Japan.

I hope that my art will tell people a story, not just about the bomb, but about people.

Admission

Masks are encouraged inside the museum.

Friends of JAMO: Free
Adults $8
Seniors $6
Students $5
Children 11 and under: Free

See Information on group visits and tours.