The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

Below are a selection of images from a series titled There Will Come Soft Rains. This work explored the effects of the 1954 Castle Bravo nuclear test on the Rongelap people who lived on a nearby atoll. They were seriously affected by radioactive fallout and suffered long lasting health problems as a result. The title is drawn from Sara Teasdale’s poem of the same name. I completed these paintings as part of my honours thesis in 2011.

Scalp, 2011, acrylic on wood

Radiation, 2011, acrylic on wood

Cargo, 2011, acrylic on wood

Dirty Water, 2011, acrylic on wood

Pattern, 2011, acrylic on wood

Autoradiograph, 2011, acrylic on wood

Food Test Program, 2011, acrylic on wood

There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pool singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

-Sara Teasdale