This is not art. It’s an exhibition, in the related sense, belonging to the museum tradition. It’s a good, old fashioned exhibition: informative, instructive and emotive.

It informs on atomic bomb (A-Bomb) damage, and the lingering after-effects, as evidenced in 20th century Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It instructs, somehow in the atmosphere, that this should have never happened again. And via photographs of victims, unique drawings by survivors, and an accompanying video, it moves your marrow.

Indeed a proviso is required: some harrowing images on display may not be suitable for young children.

Still, it’s good to see that the organisers have not shied away from gut-wrenching imagery. For it’s all too easy to explain everything via that harmless looking ‘mushroom’ cloud.

So the key to this exhibition is the human element. The dazed eyes of a post-bomb blast child linger in the mind. Ditto for a photo’ of a charred mother and baby that, with hideous irony, echo a staple subject of art history: the Madonna with child. And then there’s hope: the calm expressions of the two current mayors of the rebuilt cities.

A ripple-effect: this exhibition (excuse the pun) flattens the prissy vanities of contemporary art. Unlike so much art, that fails to engage viewers, this no-nonsense exhibition can freeze you …while the hustle-bustle of the city drones on outside.

Hiroshima-Nagasaki: A-Bomb Exhibition is at Manchester Town Hall until 27 Feb.