Michael Light: 100 SUNS

Overview

New York Gallery

 

Between 1945 and 1992 the United States detonated 1,149 nuclear test explosions. Until 1962 the tests were conducted in the atmosphere and oceans. 106 of the 216 above-ground blasts were exploded 63 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada. The remaining were detonated at the Enewetak or Bikini Atolls in the Pacific Ocean. The immediate and lasting consequences of these tests were unforeseen.

 

Michael Light’s installation, 100 SUNS, was first presented at the Hosfelt Gallery in 2003 and is currently traveling. At the heart of this exhibition are 100 photographs culled by Michael Light from the U.S. National Archives and the records of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The re-photographed images depict above-ground tests at or shortly after the moment of explosion.

 

Utilizing the found photographs along with text and photographic imagery shot by Light, the installation raises palpable issues about “weapons of mass destruction” in the hands of any nation. 100 SUNS, published by Alfred A. Knopf, is available for purchase.

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