2022
SELF-PORTRAIT, AGE 9
Unique c-print photograms (toy models, paper cutouts, sunlight, artist's breath), wooden frame, burnt house model, wooden chair, black cloth
Installation: Various
When I was born, the first thing my grandfather did was to make sure I had a full set of fingers and toes, since many children of a-bomb survivors were born with varying birth defects. I remember my introduction to mutants and mutation; first, by my fascination with childhood heroes that gained superpowers through radiation and then later, in contrast, witnessing my grandfather passing away from cancer.
This project is a self-portrait of myself at the age of 9 years old, capturing the transformative moment of witnessing the death of my grandfather from his mutated genes. The piece is as tall as my height when I was 9. Meanwhile, the photographic images made from shadows of child-like paper cuts, surround the center frame which embodies the shadows of my childhood mutants (radiation fueled super heroes) toys.
From the charred house placed on the middle of the piece is an audio piece. This drone audio work comprises of the sounds of these mutants complied together such as Godzilla’s roar and others.
The body depicted here embodies the trauma caused by technology and utilized as a weapon. Using art to highlight this terrifying technology that remains from eras now bygone, I am also highlighting the power and positive affects future technology can have in the nuclear discussion. Even though many traumas exist and still live on today, without this destructive technology, I myself would not exist as I am today, if at all.
This project is both a critique and examination of the past and a homage to my own making; a monument to those lost and to my life owed to those sacrifices. As it stands, the monument creates a portrait of the past and a prayer for the future.
2022
SELF-PORTRAIT, AGE 9
Unique c-print photograms (toy models, paper cutouts, sunlight, artist's breath), wooden frame, burnt house model, wooden chair, black cloth
Installation: Various
When I was born, the first thing my grandfather did was to make sure I had a full set of fingers and toes, since many children of a-bomb survivors were born with varying birth defects. I remember my introduction to mutants and mutation; first, by my fascination with childhood heroes that gained superpowers through radiation and then later, in contrast, witnessing my grandfather passing away from cancer.
This project is a self-portrait of myself at the age of 9 years old, capturing the transformative moment of witnessing the death of my grandfather from his mutated genes. The piece is as tall as my height when I was 9. Meanwhile, the photographic images made from shadows of child-like paper cuts, surround the center frame which embodies the shadows of my childhood mutants (radiation fueled super heroes) toys.
From the charred house placed on the middle of the piece is an audio piece. This drone audio work comprises of the sounds of these mutants complied together such as Godzilla’s roar and others.
The body depicted here embodies the trauma caused by technology and utilized as a weapon. Using art to highlight this terrifying technology that remains from eras now bygone, I am also highlighting the power and positive affects future technology can have in the nuclear discussion. Even though many traumas exist and still live on today, without this destructive technology, I myself would not exist as I am today, if at all.
This project is both a critique and examination of the past and a homage to my own making; a monument to those lost and to my life owed to those sacrifices. As it stands, the monument creates a portrait of the past and a prayer for the future.
© 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.