Fuji Friday...Two Mushroom (All Forms) Fuji

I painted this Fuji several years ago, while not aware of its significance. I was lost in the square inch, with no conscious agenda other than painting a convincing pair of mushrooms, and playing with the scale of the objects. I was astonished when I had completed the piece and realized what it represented.

In 1945, during the last days days of World War II, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed using two new atomic weapons on August 6th and August 9th respectively.  Each explosion generated a towering pyrocumulus, or mushroom cloud, along with horrifying destruction. 

Yesterday I came across these words from John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech...

"The world is a very different one now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power 

to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life."

                                                                    

Fuji with Two Mushrooms
Acrylic on Canvas  4 x 9"
Photo by Jay York