ICAN Australia has commissioned an artwork by Melbourne-based Japanese artist Hiroyasu Tsuri, aka TWOONE, to commemorate the victims and survivors of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Trinity test in New Mexico. Hiroyasu Tsuri (釣 博泰 Tsuri Hiroyasu, born 1985) is a multidisciplinary Japanese artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, photography, video, sound, installations, and performance. Tsuri is  also known as TWOONE for his large-scale public murals showcased globally. His works are featured in prestigious institutions such as The National Gallery of Australia, the Straat Museum in Amsterdam, and the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) in Munich.

Tsuri’s artwork “Abolish Nuclear Weapons” recalls the past and highlights survival, resilience and our overarching mission to make these weapons history. The origami paper cranes refer to the famous story of Sadako and the thousand paper cranes, and the global practice of folding cranes to promote peace and nuclear disarmament. The gingko leaves refer to the roughly 170 gingko trees that survived the Hiroshima bombing, when almost nothing else did. These “A-bombed trees,” or hibakujumoku, are still in Hiroshima today. The spider lily is a stunning and deeply symbolic flower, with meanings that vary in different cultures. In Japan, they are believed to be sacred flowers that protect the dead and guide them to the afterlife. At the core of the image is of course the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, formerly the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It is one of very few buildings that were left partially standing in the city centre of Hiroshima after 8:15am on 6 August 1945.