Nuclear Information Centre
Black Rain (2022)
NIC/NW/008
Nic Pehkonen, Black Rain, 2022 [Black paint-soaked, rough-cut strips horticultural fleece, dimensions variable].
Black Rain is a presentationally adaptive and fluid sculptural installation that sets out to visually describe in sculptural form a particular type of radioactive fallout first identified following the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings on the 6th and 9th of August 1945. Following the initial blast(s), vaporised objects, organic material (human and nonhuman), dust and debris were sucked up into the atmosphere before falling back down to earth, approximately half an hour later, as sticky ‘black’ droplets, contaminating food and water and causing widespread radiation poisoning in humans and animals.
Using emulsion paint-soaked horticultural fleece, which is left to hang, drip and dry on its own terms, the work becomes physically stuck to the floor and appears as if both frozen in time but with a residual fluidity of form that reflects the messy and insidious nature of radioactive fallout and contamination.
Information last updated: Sun 28 Aug 2023
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