Terrifying and beautiful at the same time, the 100 color and black and white photographs of blasts featured in Michael Light: 100 SUNS document the destructive force unleashed during nuclear tests conducted by the United States following World War II.  Light, a San Francisco-based photographer, has achieved international attention for his large-scale photographic projects examining humanity’s relationship with its environment. 

For 100 SUNS, Light used digital software to scan or re-photograph rare images he hand-picked from the archives of the U. S. National Archives and Los Alamos National Laboratory.  In many cases he was able to use digital software to restore something of the original intensity of color prints faded by time.  The haunting images Light has assembled depict tests at or shortly after the moment of explosion.  In some shocking pictures, human beings share the frame with the fireworks.  In one image, troops huddle in trenches as they are showered by sparks from the detonation of a 1953 Nevada blast referred to as “Simon.”  Light’s commentary adds a chilling note describing the next few moments when the "ground and air shockwaves will toss them like dolls, then fill their mouths with radioactive dust." These found photographs, along with text and photographic imagery shot by Light, raise compelling questions about the lasting consequences of nuclear testing and the threat posed by “weapons of mass destruction” in the hands of any nation.