USD-Magazine-Spring-2025

Resilience and Beauty As a 14 year old in Hiroshima, Japan, Yoshiko Nagara-Kozu survived the atomic bomb. She was working in a factory about a mile away from where the bomb was dropped. While searching for her lost father for more than a month, she came upon a wild flower blossoming and shining beautifully in a burnt field. Ever since, flowers have given her the energy to live. She started to paint at the age of 16, and her experience impacted her perspective as an artist throughout her life. Channeling peace and contemplation, her art focused on the beauty of the world around her — including flowers and landscapes — even in the midst of tragedy and devastation. Nagara-Kozu passed away at the age of 92 and is survived by her daughter and USD alumna, Nami Kozu Satow.

Yoshiko Nagara, Self-Portrait . Age 18-20.

Yoshiko Nagara-Kozu, Peace is the Moment, Red and White Tulips . Acrylic on canvas, 194cm x 324cm.

PEACE AND HEALING THROUGH ART

Nami Kozu Satow ’84 stands in front of one of her mother’s paintings, which hangs in the Palomar Health Student Wellness Center.

USD alumna Nami Kozu Satow ’84, daughter of Hiroshima bombing survivor and professional artist Yoshiko Nagara-Kozu, gifted the university seven of her late mother’s paintings. Satow came to campus in February and held a meaningful conversation with Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies Dean Darren Kew about the importance of peace, healing and art. Satow is an accomplished artist and former TV news anchor in Japan. Through the donation, she hopes to advocate for peace by sharing her mother’s story and message through art.

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