2019 - ongoing
MYTH OF A MANMADE SUN
Unique c-print photograms (paper cutout, sunlight, artist's breath), PVC backing, wooden frame
Myth of a Manmade Sun #1 - #4
38 × 26 × 4 in. each
Myth of a Manmade Sun #5 - #8
8 x 10 in. each
When I was a child, my favorite thing to pass time was to make collages with paper cut outs. I remember showing my “master pieces” to my grandfather who responded with excitement and encouragement; a few months later, he passed away from cancer.
After the war, the public at large had no idea that the nuclear radiation caused cancer years and even decades afterwards. Both the US Japanese governments and healthcare insurance companies refused to acknowledge this causing thousands more to die from cancer. Ever since his passing, I can never contemplate on nuclear issues and histories without recalling its link to cancer. These internalized ever-changing shapes of cells and cancer lesions became more abstract and iconized; especially, now that I witness the on-going global stage of nuclear tensions leading me to finally give these shapes a permanent form fixed on a sun-fused paper.
2019 - ongoing
MYTH OF A MANMADE SUN
Unique c-print photograms (paper cutout, sunlight, artist's breath), PVC backing, wooden frame
Myth of a Manmade Sun #1 - #4
38 × 26 × 4 in. each
Myth of a Manmade Sun #5 - #8
8 x 10 in. each
When I was a child, my favorite thing to pass time was to make collages with paper cut outs. I remember showing my “master pieces” to my grandfather who responded with excitement and encouragement; a few months later, he passed away from cancer.
After the war, the public at large had no idea that the nuclear radiation caused cancer years and even decades afterwards. Both the US Japanese governments and healthcare insurance companies refused to acknowledge this causing thousands more to die from cancer. Ever since his passing, I can never contemplate on nuclear issues and histories without recalling its link to cancer. These internalized ever-changing shapes of cells and cancer lesions became more abstract and iconized; especially, now that I witness the on-going global stage of nuclear tensions leading me to finally give these shapes a permanent form fixed on a sun-fused paper.
© 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.