Marking the Jan. 22 “Banniversary”!

In preparation for global celebrations to mark the first-year anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons’ (TPNW) entry into force, The Illuminator Collective supported New York City artists and activists to illuminate the South wall of the iconic United Nations Secretariat building designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier.

The illuminations projected on to the UN, designed by artist Ivy Arce, called out each of the nine nuclear armed nations — in the order in which each country developed its nuclear capability — to join the TPNW.

The messages read, “Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal, United States Join the Treaty! #nuclearban” followed by Russia, the UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea; and were conveyed in the corresponding country-specific, lingua franca to send a direct message to their leaders — join the Treaty to save the world from nuclear annihilation. (Photo by Seth Shelden)