[Operation Crossroads: 21 Kiloton "Baker" Bomb Detonated Ninety Feet Underwater, Bikini Atoll Lagoon, South Pacific, July 25, 1946] 1946

This photograph of the South Pacific Bikini Atoll was taken by the U.S. Army Photographic Signal Corps on July 25, 1946. Look at the muted tones, the greys and silvers, and try to imagine the moment of capture. I wonder, did the photographers know the scale of what they were recording? They must have felt so small, dwarfed by the enormity of the mushroom cloud. It’s so hard to fathom the kind of pressure involved in capturing a scene like this. The sheer force of the explosion, and the strange beauty of that awful cloud, like a monster flower. It’s hard to look at, but also, like…how could you look away? The U.S. Army Photographic Signal Corps might not be considered artists in the traditional sense, but this image resonates with the haunting landscapes of painters like Gerhard Richter, who also grappled with themes of history, memory, and the sublime. The image invites us to consider not only the event itself but also the act of witnessing and documenting such a cataclysmic moment.