2023
SUN LEAK
Unique c-print photograms (sunlight)
30 in. x 164 ft.
Here, I have turned a scroll of Chromogenic paper into a collaborative artwork—a collaboration between myself, the material, and light. Using a scroll format—an extension of my previous works and a hint at my cultural heritage—I have allowed light to leak into the normally light proof box that housed the paper. Afterwards, I processed the print and the resulting image is the evidence of this brief collaboration and the capturing of a fleeting, invisible moment in time. This process (the span of the exposure and the length of processing time) echoes the same process my grandfather underwent—a brief flash, a period of waiting for the unknown impacts/results upon his body, his country, and his future, and then finally knowing the impact that brief but fateful light had on his body when he was diagnosed with cancer decades later.
Sun Leak presents an artistic reenactment of this life altering moment contained within an unassuming but present object that examines how just a moment of light, can change someone forever.
2023
SUN LEAK
Unique c-print photograms (sunlight)30 in. x 164 ft.
Here, I have turned a scroll of Chromogenic paper into a collaborative artwork—a collaboration between myself, the material, and light. Using a scroll format—an extension of my previous works and a hint at my cultural heritage—I have allowed light to leak into the normally light proof box that housed the paper. Afterwards, I processed the print and the resulting image is the evidence of this brief collaboration and the capturing of a fleeting, invisible moment in time. This process (the span of the exposure and the length of processing time) echoes the same process my grandfather underwent—a brief flash, a period of waiting for the unknown impacts/results upon his body, his country, and his future, and then finally knowing the impact that brief but fateful light had on his body when he was diagnosed with cancer decades later.
Sun Leak presents an artistic reenactment of this life altering moment contained within an unassuming but present object that examines how just a moment of light, can change someone forever.
© 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.