Remains

PURPLE is pleased to present the photography exhibition ‘Remains’ by photographer Kimihiko Katsumata.

This series captures trees exposed to atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 2005. Trees that survived within approximately 2 kilometers of the hypocenters still bear the scars of the atomic bombings, etched into their charred bark and twisted trunks. To capture their “breath,” Katsumata photographed them in the darkness of night.

‘Remains’ views these trees not merely as memorials or symbols, but as living entities that embody war—a present-day reality. “Remains” here signifies not mere debris, but the totality of what the atomic bomb continues to leave behind in this world.

This exhibition quietly reveals how a war that should have ended continues within life itself, prompting us to reexamine our present.

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For the bombed trees, the war is not over. It remains an unformed trace or memory, a reality still unfolding in the flesh.

“REMAINS” captures the form of this living, invisible war.

Looking at these photographs, it feels as though it is not the trees, but the world itself that is decaying and slowly fading away. ──── Shunji Ito

Both bombed buildings and bombed trees are atomic bomb heritage, but the crucial difference is that bombed trees are living beings.

Bearing the scars of the bombing, they have lived on, sharing the same passage of time. Many survivors have found courage in their self-healing power.

While bombed buildings have time frozen at the moment of the blast, symbolizing destruction and militarism,

bombed trees evoke in people a sense of life, regeneration, and resurrection—a hope for the future.──── Masakazu Suzuki



【Related Events】

March 8: Bar Akahime featuring guest Katsumata scheduled!

March 22: Talk event scheduled.