tree project

HIROSHI SUNAIRI at The Horticultural Society of New York LEUR L'EXISTENCE – TREE PROJECT Welcome to the Tree Project! “ Nature tells us with no ideological standpoint about war, atomic bombs, peace, nature, and the environment.” – Dr. Riki Horiguchi Over sixty years ago, the city of Hiroshima was burnt to ashes by one nuclear bomb and people thought that nothing would grow for 75 years. However, sprouts sprung up from the remains of burnt trees and weeds came out of the ground. The trees that still live from the time of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima are called, Hibaku trees (A-bombed trees). This new life gave encouragement to the people who had lost hope. Since 2006, Riki Horiguchi, a tree doctor in Hiroshima, has provided me with seedlings and seeds of Round Leaf Holly, Persimmon, Chinaberry, Chinese Parasol, Japanese Hackberry, and Jujube. These seeds are the second or third generation of Hibaku Trees.　By sharing these seeds with people in the US and elsewh...

WINTER SESSION ’09 VISITING ARTIST TALK THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 6:00 PM HIROSHI SUNARI Born in Hiroshima, Japan, 1972, Hiroshi Sunairi lives and works in New York where he teaches at NYU's Department of Art and Art Professions. His most recent installation work entitled "White Elephant" was shown in the Japan Society of New York in 2007. "White Elephant" is a deconstructed life-size ceramic elephant, a 9.11 memorial not only for Americans but also for Iraqis and the people of Afghanistan. The installation "A Night of Elephants" was shown at Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan in 2005 (Sunairi's hometown). For this installation, Sunairi collaborated with the city of Hiroshima to gather pruned trees that survived the atomic bombing, all of which he inserted into a metal framework in the shape of an elephant lying down. Departing from the Western saying that "Elephants Never Forget," this work debuted on the 60th anniversary of th...