2022
SHADED REMNANTS (9.11- PENTAGON)
Graphite, paper, Dibond mount
Side 1: 61 3/4 x 27 1/4 x 1 in.
Side 2: 611 5/16 x 21 1/8 x 1 in.
Side 3: 62 3/16 x 21 1/4 x 1 in.
Side 4: 27 3/8 x 21 x 1 in.
Side 5: 27 3/8 x 20 9/16 x 1 in.
Making of Shaded Remnants (9/11 Pentagon Monument)
2022
Video
30 minutes
Press Release:
Shaded Remnants is a multimedia solo exhibition of visual artist Kei Ito examining the lingering remnants of memories. Featuring two new bodies of works, the exhibition focuses on differing materials and textures in order to create a contemplative space for reflection and examination of our own relationship with collective memory.
On the gallery walls is a series of large graphite rubbings, also known as Frottage, called Shaded Remnants (Pentagon: 9/11 Monument). The presented textures were collected from the large limestone blocks taken from the site of the 9/11 Pentagon attack and currently on view outside of the building. Captured from each visible side of the stones, these soft impressions are now exhibited and laid out in a deconstructed view of each box similar to an architectural drawing. This new bird’s eye view and the turning of once hard stone into soft gray textures perhaps provides a new perception of our own feelings and memories.
Ito’s work originates in his own intergenerational trauma of both loss and having. Through this lens of examining the past and refocusing on the present, Shaded Remnants invites you to experience the impressions, both hard and soft, left behind by all of us.
2022
SHADED REMNANTS (9.11-PENTAGON)
Graphite, paper, Dibond mount
Side 1: 61 3/4 x 27 1/4 x 1 in.
Side 2: 611 5/16 x 21 1/8 x 1 in.
Side 3: 62 3/16 x 21 1/4 x 1 in.
Side 4: 27 3/8 x 21 x 1 in.
Side 5: 27 3/8 x 20 9/16 x 1 in.
Making of Shaded Remnants (9/11 Pentagon Monument)
2022
Video
30 minutes
Press Release:
Shaded Remnants is a multimedia solo exhibition of visual artist Kei Ito examining the lingering remnants of memories. Featuring two new bodies of works, the exhibition focuses on differing materials and textures in order to create a contemplative space for reflection and examination of our own relationship with collective memory.
On the gallery walls is a series of large graphite rubbings, also known as Frottage, called Shaded Remnants (Pentagon: 9/11 Monument). The presented textures were collected from the large limestone blocks taken from the site of the 9/11 Pentagon attack and currently on view outside of the building. Captured from each visible side of the stones, these soft impressions are now exhibited and laid out in a deconstructed view of each box similar to an architectural drawing. This new bird’s eye view and the turning of once hard stone into soft gray textures perhaps provides a new perception of our own feelings and memories.
Ito’s work originates in his own intergenerational trauma of both loss and having. Through this lens of examining the past and refocusing on the present, Shaded Remnants invites you to experience the impressions, both hard and soft, left behind by all of us.
© 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.