BOMBHEAD is a thematic exhibition organized by guest curator John O’Brian and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery. It explores the emergence and impact of the nuclear age as represented by artists and their art. Encompassing the pre- and post-war period from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, the exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photographs, film, video and ephemera that deal with this subject matter strongly associated with obliteration and destruction. 

In the mid-1980s reports of American nuclear powered and nuclear armed submarines visiting Nanoose Bay sparked widespread protests in the community, and in 1987 the City declared Nanaimo a Nuclear Free Zone. There have been fewer disarmament protests in Nanaimo since the end of the Cold War, but the themes explored in BOMBHEAD continue to be relevant in this region and around the world. Exploring the profound impact of nuclear technologies, BOMBHEAD is the final exhibition in a year in which Nanaimo Art Gallery asks What is Progress?

Content Warning: This exhibition contains graphic depictions of war and suggestions of sexualized violence. 

Artists: Carl Beam, Henry Busse, Blaine Campbell, Bruce Conner, Gregory Coyes and John O’Brian, Robert Del Tredici, Harold Edgerton, Robert Filliou, Richard Finnie, Betty Goodwin, Adolph Gottlieb, David Hockney, Robert Keziere, Bob Light and John Houston, Ishiuchi Miyako, Carel Moiseiwitsch, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Mark Ruwedel, John Scott, Erin Siddall, Nancy Spero, Barbara Todd and Yosuke Yamahata.  

This exhibition is part of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Across the Province touring program.

Thank you to BOMBHEAD Curator John O’Brian for sharing your insight during a talk at Nanaimo Art Gallery in February, 2022.