Handing down the experiences of A-bomb survivors through the arts
Apr. 1, 2008
by Aya Kasai, Expressive Arts Therapist
At the hospital where I work in the United States, a woman suffering from a mood disorder asked me how to fold a paper crane. “Why do you want to fold a crane?” I replied. “To pray for peace of mind,” she told me. Fine handwork performed repeatedly can become a soothing act. Folding paper cranes may serve as a form of prayer that raises little reluctance in regard to taking part. And turning a small sheet of paper into a beautiful winged crane will manifest the forces of “hope” and “transformation.”
Paper cranes are not only important for the healing of the community of A-bomb survivors and their loved ones in connection with the trauma of the bombings, they are also actively alive as a symbol crossing national borders. This is because the arts have the power to enfold and transform any sort of anger, sorrow, or suffering. At the same time, the arts serve as a medium which can communicate the A-bomb experience to others. I imagine many of you have been moved by depictions of the atomic bombings through paintings, poems, plays, picture books, or comic books. The arts stimulate our senses and communicate what cannot be conveyed by words alone.
With friends who feel similarly about this power of the arts, I am involved in a project called “Pondering Peace through the Mind and Body.” For “Hiroshima Stories,” a drama workshop and performance we conducted in Hiroshima in May 2007, we shared the accounts of A-bomb survivors and our emotional responses through the expressive arts, and explored the connection we have to history. In the performance by the Hiroshima Playback Theater, we solicited narrators from the audience and their narratives on the theme of “Hiroshima and I” were improvised by the actors. One teacher related her visit to Hiroshima with her students on a school trip while a youth shared interactions with a grandfather, an A-bomb survivor. By “playing back” these experiences on stage, the audience was able to empathize with these stories through the fullness of their senses.
To effectively pass on A-bomb experiences, such sensory approaches are now vital and should include: peace education that does not end up leaving youth with a passive posture; expressive means that do not simply rely on language; and modes of conveying A-bomb experiences in a way that the act of relating the story can help bring healing to the narrator. As one A-bomb survivor remarked, “Speaking about my experience produces such strong emotion, too, that words alone are not enough.” Communicating one's trauma is a demanding task since talking about the experience of hardship stirs a host of sensations and feelings from that time.
Recent research on the human brain has revealed that, when faced with horror, our brains forgo their ability to verbalize the experience and instead the senses capture keen “memories” of the event. Thus, the experience of horror is recalled primarily through physical sensations, not in language. This explains the effectiveness of the arts for conveying the experiences of A-bomb survivors.
Also, in order to have the post-war generations gain from the eyewitness accounts of the atomic bombings, the listeners’ power of empathy must be stimulated. Peace education that engenders only fear will simply increase indifference, leaving the perception that “This is just another story of war that I have nothing to do with.” However, when listeners experience a range of emotions welling up in themselves, and then have the opportunity to express these feelings in a form of their own, they find a personal voice inspired by the survivors’ accounts.
Peacemaking involves nurturing human beings who are able to understand what others have experienced and can then speak out in their own voices. The arts transform the invisible or indescribable into something that can be perceived beyond the boundaries of age, gender, ethnicity, and ideology, and give rise to a time and space where people can come together in compassion. By providing individuals with a medium for expression, the arts can bridge our inherent differences and create community.
A day will dawn when the post-war generations will be entirely responsible for handing down the experiences of the A-bomb survivors. Since ancient times, when wars or natural disasters have occurred, human beings have passed on their experiences through the arts. I imagine the future will be no different.
Aya Kasai, MA
Aya Kasai, a clinical psychologist, is a third-generation A-bomb survivor, currently living in Oakland, California. Through her clinical work, she is engaged in peace education activities that utilize the arts. In July 2008, she will hold an expressive arts workshop in Hiroshima. Ms. Kasai was born in 1974 in Hiroshima Prefecture.
At the hospital where I work in the United States, a woman suffering from a mood disorder asked me how to fold a paper crane. “Why do you want to fold a crane?” I replied. “To pray for peace of mind,” she told me. Fine handwork performed repeatedly can become a soothing act. Folding paper cranes may serve as a form of prayer that raises little reluctance in regard to taking part. And turning a small sheet of paper into a beautiful winged crane will manifest the forces of “hope” and “transformation.”
Paper cranes are not only important for the healing of the community of A-bomb survivors and their loved ones in connection with the trauma of the bombings, they are also actively alive as a symbol crossing national borders. This is because the arts have the power to enfold and transform any sort of anger, sorrow, or suffering. At the same time, the arts serve as a medium which can communicate the A-bomb experience to others. I imagine many of you have been moved by depictions of the atomic bombings through paintings, poems, plays, picture books, or comic books. The arts stimulate our senses and communicate what cannot be conveyed by words alone.
With friends who feel similarly about this power of the arts, I am involved in a project called “Pondering Peace through the Mind and Body.” For “Hiroshima Stories,” a drama workshop and performance we conducted in Hiroshima in May 2007, we shared the accounts of A-bomb survivors and our emotional responses through the expressive arts, and explored the connection we have to history. In the performance by the Hiroshima Playback Theater, we solicited narrators from the audience and their narratives on the theme of “Hiroshima and I” were improvised by the actors. One teacher related her visit to Hiroshima with her students on a school trip while a youth shared interactions with a grandfather, an A-bomb survivor. By “playing back” these experiences on stage, the audience was able to empathize with these stories through the fullness of their senses.
To effectively pass on A-bomb experiences, such sensory approaches are now vital and should include: peace education that does not end up leaving youth with a passive posture; expressive means that do not simply rely on language; and modes of conveying A-bomb experiences in a way that the act of relating the story can help bring healing to the narrator. As one A-bomb survivor remarked, “Speaking about my experience produces such strong emotion, too, that words alone are not enough.” Communicating one's trauma is a demanding task since talking about the experience of hardship stirs a host of sensations and feelings from that time.
Recent research on the human brain has revealed that, when faced with horror, our brains forgo their ability to verbalize the experience and instead the senses capture keen “memories” of the event. Thus, the experience of horror is recalled primarily through physical sensations, not in language. This explains the effectiveness of the arts for conveying the experiences of A-bomb survivors.
Also, in order to have the post-war generations gain from the eyewitness accounts of the atomic bombings, the listeners’ power of empathy must be stimulated. Peace education that engenders only fear will simply increase indifference, leaving the perception that “This is just another story of war that I have nothing to do with.” However, when listeners experience a range of emotions welling up in themselves, and then have the opportunity to express these feelings in a form of their own, they find a personal voice inspired by the survivors’ accounts.
Peacemaking involves nurturing human beings who are able to understand what others have experienced and can then speak out in their own voices. The arts transform the invisible or indescribable into something that can be perceived beyond the boundaries of age, gender, ethnicity, and ideology, and give rise to a time and space where people can come together in compassion. By providing individuals with a medium for expression, the arts can bridge our inherent differences and create community.
A day will dawn when the post-war generations will be entirely responsible for handing down the experiences of the A-bomb survivors. Since ancient times, when wars or natural disasters have occurred, human beings have passed on their experiences through the arts. I imagine the future will be no different.
Aya Kasai, MA
Aya Kasai, a clinical psychologist, is a third-generation A-bomb survivor, currently living in Oakland, California. Through her clinical work, she is engaged in peace education activities that utilize the arts. In July 2008, she will hold an expressive arts workshop in Hiroshima. Ms. Kasai was born in 1974 in Hiroshima Prefecture.
