2018
RAVAGED FLOWER OF THE FUTURE
Unique c-print photogram (sunflower, sunlight, artist's breath), wooden frame, blacken sunflower seeds
Installation: 21 x 80 x 50 in.
Print: 21 x 60 x 1 in.
Sculpture: 24 x 2 x 42 in.
A c-print photogram made with a sunflower grown with water taken from a village in Fukushima where the artist’s close friend used to reside.
Sunflowers were a common sight among many on that bright morning in Hiroshima in 1945, a last possible sight for many. Today, sunflowers are believed to have an ability to clean radioactive soil by consuming the radiation through their roots. The study is still on-going and it may not be the short/quick solution, but I wonder if in the near future, a scientist will create a sunflower that can consume the radioactive material and can live off the radiation. And if so, it is only natural to think that the post nuclear apocalyptic world will be covered with sunflowers for the next few hundred years. Nothing but sunflowers, blowing radioactive ash in the contaminated wind.
2018
RAVAGED FLOWER OF THE FUTURE
Unique c-print photogram (sunflower, sunlight, artist's breath), wooden frame, blacken sunflower seeds
Installation: 21 x 80 x 50 in.
Print: 21 x 60 x 1 in.
Sculpture: 24 x 2 x 42 in.
A c-print photogram made with a sunflower grown with water taken from a village in Fukushima where the artist’s close friend used to reside.
Sunflowers were a common sight among many on that bright morning in Hiroshima in 1945, a last possible sight for many. Today, sunflowers are believed to have an ability to clean radioactive soil by consuming the radiation through their roots. The study is still on-going and it may not be the short/quick solution, but I wonder if in the near future, a scientist will create a sunflower that can consume the radioactive material and can live off the radiation. And if so, it is only natural to think that the post nuclear apocalyptic world will be covered with sunflowers for the next few hundred years. Nothing but sunflowers, blowing radioactive ash in the contaminated wind.
© 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.