(Chicago, Illinois, 1945 - October 27, 2017)
From the series "Nuclear Enchantment"
1991
Ilfocolor print
20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61.0 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of George Stephanopoulos
2008.148
Nagatani and his son look out at Albuquerque’s downtown as a black rain begins to fall. (Survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki used that term to describe nuclear fallout from the bombs, which initially appeared to be common precipitation.) The projectiles orbiting overhead are “Brilliant Pebbles,” nuclear weapons that were part of President Reagan’s 1984 Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as “Star Wars.” The controversial initiative’s goal was to develop an anti-ballistic missile system that would prevent nuclear attack by destroying incoming enemy missiles.