Hannah Huddy & James Thomson

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Between 1956 and 1962 thousands of young men on National Service duty were sent to Christmas Island in the South Pacific for a sustained period of nuclear weapons testing conducted by the British Government. Within a 30 mile radius of the Island, Hydrogen Bombs were hastily detonated with little regard for the health and safety of its occupants. Grouped in pens marked out by white tape placed over the sand, men were instructed to sit with their backs to the explosion, eyes shut and hands pressed tightly over their eyes.

The blinding flash would highlight the bones in the hands of every man, a vision that has scarred their memory forever. The heat on the back of their necks made their hair stand on end as the blast forced past them – stripping the surrounding coconut trees of their produce. Seventeen seconds after the burning light had faded, they were instructed to stand up, turn around and face the bomb.

This series of x-ray photograms have been produced to communicate the existential nature of these moments. Through metaphor they attempt to voice the Veterans continued concerns for the effects of radiation on their health and in subsequent generations.