Lindsay Webster

Fearless Boy was created using images from the National Archives (open access) taken in Japan after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The idea for this particular piece manifested as I was considering the impact of Covid19 on humankind. Whether in America, or on an island in the Pacific, or in the high mountains of Peru, every person on earth was – and still is – impacted in some way by the Covid19 epidemic, just as everyone on earth was – and still is – impacted by the WWII atomic attack on Japan.

These significant occurrences reverberate, and encircle the earth with the unknown. Presently, a super power, who has the largest nuclear weapon in the world – 2,000 times more powerful than the Nagasaki bomb, is threatening to utilize nuclear weapons. Regrettably, haunting memories of the devastation, destruction, and death caused by WWII atomic bombs has faded from the memory of some.

Seeking justice, the light side of the Judge archetype beckoned me to visually represent humankind confronting the unthinkable, a nuclear war. The image of a Japanese child, still standing in Nagasaki the day after the bomb was dropped, reminds us of the injustice nuclear war imparts to every living being on earth. At the same time, Fearless Boy reminds us that even when confronting terrible injustices, and the unknown, we can find strength and embrace the future with courage.

Fearless Boy 2022 13 x 11 Mixed media photo collage NFS