2019 - ongoing
NEW LIGHT-NARROWCAST
Looped video projection (scanned and sequenced c-print prints made with US nuclear testing footage, sunlight, and artist's breath), audio composed by Andrew Paul Keiper
Looped 5min 39sec
New Light (USA) print
2019
Unique c-print photograms (US nuclear testing footage, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
16 x 20 in. each prints
New Light is an ongoing series of video installations. The process of making the films is as follows: first, I reprocessed the declassified nuclear testing film footage by deconstructing each film into 1000s of film stills. Then, reprinting each frame by exposing them onto darkroom paper with tinted sunlight, and finally, rescanning the processed prints back into a single film (sometimes objects like Godzilla figurines or Enola Gay toys were placed on the darkroom paper during the exposing process).
Each New Light film is dedicated to countries which have conducted nuclear testing. The sound component of each film is composed by a composer/sound artist who is native to the said country. For example New Light-Narrowcast (USA) was made entirely with footage from nuclear tests conducted by the US; the sound component was composed by Andrew Paul Keiper, a US sound artist whose grandfather was a Manhattan Project engineer who contributed to the development of the nuclear bomb.
The project will result in 8 different films including USA, Russia/Soviet Union, China, UK, France, Pakistan, India and North Korea). More films will be made if any additional country conducts nuclear testing.
—
Modified version of the New Light-Narrowcast (USA) was projected on the side of the Daniels and Fisher Tower in Denver as a public art project organized by Night Lights Denver: People’s Projector and the Center for Fine Art Photography.
The projection began at 5:29AM on July 16th, 2021 which is the 76th year anniversary of the first nuclear explosion that blazed into existence in the early morning skies of Los Alamos, NM.
2019 - ongoing
NEW LIGHT-NARROWCAST
Looped video projection (scanned and sequenced c-print prints made with US nuclear testing footage, sunlight, and artist's breath), audio composed by Andrew Paul Keiper
Looped 5min 39sec
New Light (USA) print
2019
Unique c-print photograms (US nuclear testing footage, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
16 x 20 in. each prints
New Light is an ongoing series of video installations. The process of making the films is as follows: first, I reprocessed the declassified nuclear testing film footage by deconstructing each film into 1000s of film stills. Then, reprinting each frame by exposing them onto darkroom paper with tinted sunlight, and finally, rescanning the processed prints back into a single film (sometimes objects like Godzilla figurines or Enola Gay toys were placed on the darkroom paper during the exposing process).
Each New Light film is dedicated to countries which have conducted nuclear testing. The sound component of each film is composed by a composer/sound artist who is native to the said country. For example New Light-Narrowcast (USA) was made entirely with footage from nuclear tests conducted by the US; the sound component was composed by Andrew Paul Keiper, a US sound artist whose grandfather was a Manhattan Project engineer who contributed to the development of the nuclear bomb.
The project will result in 8 different films including USA, Russia/Soviet Union, China, UK, France, Pakistan, India and North Korea). More films will be made if any additional country conducts nuclear testing.
—
Modified version of the New Light-Narrowcast (USA) was projected on the side of the Daniels and Fisher Tower in Denver as a public art project organized by Night Lights Denver: People’s Projector and the Center for Fine Art Photography.
The projection began at 5:29AM on July 16th, 2021 which is the 76th year anniversary of the first nuclear explosion that blazed into existence in the early morning skies of Los Alamos, NM.
© 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.