2021
RECOVERY TO NORMAL EXISTENCE (SHADOW ASSEMBLY)
Unique c-print photograms (found objects, historical archive, ink, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
Installation: Various
Shadow Assembly: Life
2021
Unique c-print photograms (historic archive, ink, crowbar, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
27 x 21 x 1 in. (4 of 8 x 10 in. prints)
Shadow Assembly: X
2021
Unique c-print photograms (small US flag, ink, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
53 x 43 x 1 in. (9 of 8 x 10 in. prints)
Shadow Assembly: Recovery to Normal Existence
2021
Unique c-print photograms (historic archive, ink, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
100 x 17 x 1 in. (12 of 8 x10 in. prints)
Recovery to Normal Existence (Shadow Assembly) is a series of unique chromogenic contact prints made with various found objects and historical documents relating to the US nuclear legacy as well as many other trauma yet to be resolved.
The objects or materials used for the contact prints are all associated with the semiotics of looming threats and the terror of the invisible; radiation. In one, you see child-sized gas masks issued by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. In another, an absurd but serious infographic that illustrates the distance from the bomb exploding and how much radiation you can be exposed to before you perish. Perhaps most illuminating of all is the name of the series, “Recovery to Normal Existence”. The print uses a graphic from the magazine Live, depicting how long after a nuclear explosion it will take for life to return to “normal existence.”
2021
RECOVERY TO NORMAL EXISTENCE (SHADOW ASSEMBLY)
Unique c-print photograms (found objects, historical archive, ink, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
Installation: Various
Shadow Assembly: Life
2021
Unique c-print photograms (historic archive, ink, crowbar, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
27 x 21 x 1 in. (4 of 8 x 10 in. prints)
Shadow Assembly: X
2021
Unique c-print photograms (small US flag, ink, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
53 x 43 x 1 in. (9 of 8 x 10 in. prints)
Shadow Assembly: Recovery to Normal Existence
2021
Unique c-print photograms (historic archive, ink, sunlight, artist's breath), metal frame
100 x 17 x 1 in. (12 of 8 x10 in. prints)
Recovery to Normal Existence (Shadow Assembly) is a series of unique chromogenic contact prints made with various found objects and historical documents relating to the US nuclear legacy as well as many other trauma yet to be resolved.
The objects or materials used for the contact prints are all associated with the semiotics of looming threats and the terror of the invisible; radiation. In one, you see child-sized gas masks issued by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. In another, an absurd but serious infographic that illustrates the distance from the bomb exploding and how much radiation you can be exposed to before you perish. Perhaps most illuminating of all is the name of the series, “Recovery to Normal Existence”. The print uses a graphic from the magazine Live, depicting how long after a nuclear explosion it will take for life to return to “normal existence.”
© 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.