In April 2005, Lydia Bright exhibited a series of mixed media paintings depicting the Atomic Bomb tests done in Nevada in the 1950's.

�The Soviet Union was condemned by the United States for keeping the Chernobyl disaster secret for three days and preventing Ukrainians and Europeans from taking measures to protect themselves from the radiation. In contrast, the leaders of the American nuclear weapons industry waged a secret medical and scientific struggle for 30 years to cover up the contamination of vast areas of North America from atomic blasts at the Nevada Test Site.�

-Carol Gallagher, from American Ground Zero; The Secret Nuclear War

These paintings are part of a much longer process of thinking about science, progress, morality, beauty and obsession, both political and scientific. In 1995, I heard Carol Gallagher speak and saw a collection of her photographs of people in Nevada and Utah who were affected by the nuclear tests in the �50s. There was a sense of urgency in her writings; it was important to hear these stories before all involved died. Since the government has never admitted any wrongdoing, the lives and suffering of these people could have been covered up and never historically acknowledged.

These narratives had a profound effect on me; my mind tried to grasp how this could happen. What forces would propel real people to pursue reckless programs of scientific and military exploration? Having worked as a scientist on projects related to genetic engineering in the last few years, I can understand more now how the pursuit of knowledge and control can lead one to try every last experiment, down to the making of an atomic bomb. Many of the scientists and politicians involved in the Manhattan project were very conflicted, and many of their individual stories are well-documented. In making these paintings, I was interested in how an individual could justify inflicting this pain and suffering on another group, especially their own fellow citizens. I created beautiful, seductive images of bombs, while thinking about the people who were involved in their making, in both big and small ways; I drew and painted people while thinking about what the experience of watching an atomic bomb detonate meant to them personally. As a scientist, an artist, and a human being who tries so hard to keep the lessons of history in mind while making decisions today, studying and thinking about these stories and images for close to a year was an exercise in self-reflection and reconciliation that is very difficult for our government to achieve.

Todd Eschenburg and Michael Yun installing amps for sound accompanyment at the opening

 

Lydia displayed her paintings with rusted barbed wire fragments hung in front of them

 

Lydia with Ubu Ale opening night

More of Lydia's work.