Edmonton, Alberta

“War has long been a subject of the arts and within this genre posters have been important vehicles for communication. Posters are used to arouse public opinion. They reflect changes in attitudes, political trends and social issues. They are advertisements and sources of information. In short, posters are a record of the time.

Designers have used their talents to rally both for and against war, and to create powerful graphic statements. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—yet we live in a world which is still witness to armed conflict. Lest We Forget: Canadian Designers on War features the responses of 24 prominent Canadian graphic designers to the subjects of war, anti-war and peace. This show challenges viewers to think differently and perhaps act differently.”

—Curator, Alison Miyauchi

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Robert L. Peters was one of 24 designers invited to contribute posters for Lest We Forget: Canadian Designers on War, an exhibit which opened at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta today under the auspices of The Works Art and Design Festival.

Shown here are two of four posters designed by Peters. The first is self-explanatory; regarding the poster entitled “I am become Death,” Peters explains: “After witnessing the first nuclear explosion (code-named Trinity ) in the New Mexico desert on 16 July 1945, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer murmured this famous aphorism, quoting a Hindu text by the Bhagavad-Gita. As Trinity director Kenneth Bainbridge watched the explosion, he exclaimed, ‘Now we are all sons of bitches.’ Technological advances can make us more powerful, faster, and more prolific, but they do not make us smarter. The background image is of the atomic plume over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945.”

For more information about the exhibit, please contact the curator, Alison Miyauchi, at: miyauchi@telusplanet.net

Exhibit Catalogue (PDF download, 9.6 MB)

Photos from the exhibition opening…