2016
INFERTILE AMERICAN DREAM
Unique c-print photograms (model of house, sunlight, artist's breath), Dibond mounted
Triptych of 27 x 38 x 2 in.
Infertile American Dream (Mural)
2018
Public billboard located at (40.71513, -73.94232; 208 Conselyea St, Brooklyn, NY 11211)
15 x 23 ft.
In collaboration with 14x48 Billboard Projects
Infertile American Dream is a triptych of C-prints, which were created by exposing light-sensitive paper to sunlight on the day the 45th US president was elected.
The increase of nuclear armaments worldwide, and the ramping up of nuclear tensions between the US and North Korea harken back to the terror of my grandfather’s experience during the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. By his account, it seemed as though the sky was lit by hundreds of suns. On that day, the very fabric of life that he knew, his friends, family, and even the landscapes of the city were completely annihilated. Any trace of home seemed to never have existed, as if his home was never even built.
As a 3rd generation A-bomb victim who is now a resident of America, I find the chaos in the current political establishment unbearable. Political divides have deepened, and nuclear war seems closer on the horizon than it has ever been in my lifetime. The realization that the home, in both physical and spiritual sense, can be taken away as quickly as thirty minutes by a single bomb and the chain reaction that follows, dawned on me. After we reach the point of no return, the American Dream will be unsustainable--an empty and barren wasteland filled with nothing but ash left for future generations. Like the unassembled home in Infertile American Dream, our children will not be able to have a chance to conceive their ideal vision of hope for the future.
Art Billboard sponsored by 14x48.org, Woodpoint Rd/Conselyea St in Brooklyn, near Graham Av L station.
Art Review on the Washing Post (Physical copy/January 14th) on the solo exhibition at the Hillyer Art Space in DC
2016, 2018
INFERTILE AMERICAN DREAM
Unique c-print photograms (model of house, sunlight, artist's breath), Dibond mounted
Triptych of 27 x 38 x 2 in.
Infertile American Dream (Mural)
2018
Public billboard located at (40.71513, -73.94232; 208 Conselyea St, Brooklyn, NY 11211)
15 x 23 ft.
In collaboration with 14x48 Billboard Projects
Infertile American Dream is a triptych of C-prints, which were created by exposing light-sensitive paper to sunlight on the day the 45th US president was elected.
The increase of nuclear armaments worldwide, and the ramping up of nuclear tensions between the US and North Korea harken back to the terror of my grandfather’s experience during the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. By his account, it seemed as though the sky was lit by hundreds of suns. On that day, the very fabric of life that he knew, his friends, family, and even the landscapes of the city were completely annihilated. Any trace of home seemed to never have existed, as if his home was never even built.
As a 3rd generation A-bomb victim who is now a resident of America, I find the chaos in the current political establishment unbearable. Political divides have deepened, and nuclear war seems closer on the horizon than it has ever been in my lifetime. The realization that the home, in both physical and spiritual sense, can be taken away as quickly as thirty minutes by a single bomb and the chain reaction that follows, dawned on me. After we reach the point of no return, the American Dream will be unsustainable--an empty and barren wasteland filled with nothing but ash left for future generations. Like the unassembled home in Infertile American Dream, our children will not be able to have a chance to conceive their ideal vision of hope for the future.
Art Billboard sponsored by 14x48.org, Woodpoint Rd/Conselyea St in Brooklyn, near Graham Av L station.
Art Review on the Washing Post (Physical copy/January 14th) on the solo exhibition at the Hillyer Art Space in DC
© 2023 by Kei Ito.
Created on Editor X.
Sungazing
2015 - Ongoing
108 of 8”x10” prints, Scroll: 12” x 150’ to 220’ depending on the edition
On August 6th 1945, at 8:15 AM, my grandfather witnessed a great tragedy that destroyed nearly everything in Hiroshima. He survived the bombing, yet he lost many of his family members from the explosion and radiation poisoning. As an activist and author, my grandfather fought against the use of nuclear weaponry throughout his life, until he too passed away from cancer when I was ten years old. I remember him saying that day in Hiroshima was like hundreds of suns lighting up the sky.
In order to express the connection between the sun and my family history, I have created 108 letter size prints and a 200 foot long scroll, made by exposing Type-C photographic paper to sunlight. The pattern on the prints/scroll corresponds to my breath. In a darkened room, I pulled the paper in front of a small aperture to expose it to the sun while inhaling, and paused when exhaling. I repeated this action until I breathed 108 times. 108 is a number with ritual significance in Japanese Buddhism; to mark the Japanese New Year, bells toll 108 times, ridding us of our evil passions and desires, and purifying our souls.
If the black parts of the print remind you of a shadow, it is the shadow of my breath, which is itself a registration of my life, a life I share with and owe to my grandfather. The mark of the atomic blast upon his life and upon his breath was passed on to me, and you can see it as the shadow of this print.