With the cooperation of the Creative Expression Course at Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High School, this Foundation is working with the high school students to create A-bomb Drawings that depict scenes from the atomic bombing that are still fresh in the minds of hibakusha and convey the situation at the time.
　Since fiscal year 2020, 10 hibakusha and 18 students have been working on the project, and 19 pictures have been completed in 2021. Since the works were first commissioned in 2007, more than 140 students have worked on the project, producing 171 valuable pictures.
　The completion ceremony was held at Motomachi High School on July 5, 2021. In addition to the nine hibakusha (one was absent) and the students of the Creative Expression Course, including the students who created the pictures, representatives of this Foundation and Motomachi Senior High School officials also attended the ceremony, taking thorough measures against the COVID-19 infection.
　Mr. Shunichiro Arai, an A-bomb survivor, and Ms. Tsumugi Yamada, a second-year student, created a work titled "I saw the terrible flash and the B-29 flying away at the moment of the atomic bomb explosion." Ms. Yamada was working on the production until the day before the completion ceremony.
　On the morning of the day of the atomic bombing, Mr. Arai witnessed the moment the bomb exploded from Hachihonmatsu Station in Higashi-Hiroshima City, about 22.2km from the hypocenter. He said that he decided to have it painted as a record of one of the few times he witnessed the explosion in his line of sight. At first, Mr. Arai thought it would be an impossible order for Ms. Yamada to draw a B-29 bomber, which she had never seen or heard of, but after many conversations and revisions, the work was completed, and he was very happy to finally be able to show it off. He also said he wanted to express his gratitude to Ms. Yamada and all the people involved in the production.
　Ms. Yamada said that she decided to participate in the project because she thought that being involved in the creation of the A-bomb picture would be a living experience that she could use even after she became an adult. She said that it was difficult to express the light from the atomic bombing, which was the main point of the picture, and that even though she and Mr. Arai had watched the video materials of the bombing many times, she could not come up with a satisfactory picture. However, after receiving advice from Mr. Arai and making revisions, she was able to make it closer to the scene he actually saw. Ms. Yamada concluded her speech at the completion ceremony with the words, "I hope that the tragedy of the atomic bombing will be conveyed to those who see this picture, even if only a little."
　In this project, as in the previous year, the students were unable to listen to the hibakushas' stories face to face due to the coronavirus pandemic, so they had meetings over the phone and communicated the progress of their drawings through photographs. Because of the differences in color and appearance between the photos and the real thing, they had a hard time communicating. The A-bomb pictures completed through the efforts of the hibakushas and students will be used in lectures by atomic bomb witnesses to promote a deeper understanding of the A-bomb experience. We will continue to lend out the pictures and provide image data to the mass media to help pass on the reality of the atomic bombing to future generations.