KELLY LORENNIJ
A nuclear legacy display holds its place this month at the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) library and is open to other schools and the public for viewing.
With the supervision of Mary Silk, the Director of CMI Nuclear Institute and Marshallese Studies, students who have taken nuclear studies or are members of the Nuclear Club at the College set up an array of their own works including: colorful models of nuclear fallout, hand-drawn artwork, and poetry — all of which illustrates the nuclear legacy and the emotions generated by the theme.
In addition, historical photographs taken of different atomic bombs that usually hang in the CMI Nuclear Department complement these personal works. The Institute also brought out its collection of books all written on the nuclear issue.
The student art and literature focus on the “untold” stories of family members from the atolls Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utrik. Still others express how anger, frustration, and sadness of the writer.
Silk herself relayed how more than a couple of poems written for her Pacific Issues class have caused tears to flow because of the honest and raw voices found in the words of nuclear survivors who live on in their children, their grandchildren, and their great grandchildren.
The legacy of nuclear survivors and nuclear advocates such as Tempo Alfred and Tony deBrum are not missed in the humble display that cries out: “We will not be shelved. Here is our story — find it in the careful strokes, the black and white stills, and between these pages and more pages of our truth.”
Read more about this in the March 30, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.