Artists Address Marshall Islands’ Nuclear Legacy in National Maritime Museum Show

An exhibition at London’s National Maritime Museum examines the environmental and historical pressures facing the Marshall Islands through contemporary art, photography and film.

Titled Kõmij Mour Ijin / Our Life is Here and running until 14 June, the show presents works developed following a 2023 expedition organised by the UK-based arts and climate initiative Cape Farewell, founded by artist David Buckland. Around 30 artists, scientists and filmmakers travelled roughly 450 nautical miles across the Pacific nation’s atolls, joined by Marshallese youth participants on a parallel research vessel.

The project focused on two linked issues: rising sea levels and the legacy of US nuclear weapons testing. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 23 nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, including the 1954 Castle Bravo detonation, the largest in its test programme. The tests displaced local communities and left long-term environmental effects that are addressed in several works in the exhibition.

The Marshall Islands’ average elevation is around six feet above sea level. A 2021 World Bank study found that up to 96% of the capital, Majuro, could face frequent flooding under higher sea-level scenarios. Recent global climate data indicates that the past year ranked among the three warmest on record.