2022
TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE THIS WORLD
Looped projection (slide projector, 160 slide films, projector controller)
30min projection loop
Teach Me How To Love This World is an ephemeral installation which combines poetry and photographic media. The project features two modified carousel projectors - one showcasing a series of 80 film slides with pronouns and the other 80 film slides with nouns. The carousels automatically advance each slide every 30 seconds, creating a repeating and endless thread of words questioning the seemingly never ending cycle of war and peace such as “Your” “Blood”, “My” “Love”, and “Our” “Peace”. The endlessly repeating words used all across the project act as a desperate prayer of hope for the future and questioning the fundamental idea of violence as being inherent to human nature.
The slide projectors will be modified to be fitted with a LED light which allows the projection to have continuous operation throughout the exhibition period.
2022
TEACH ME HOW TO LOVE THIS WORLD
Looped projection (slide projector, 160 slide films, projector controller)
30min projection loop
Teach Me How To Love This World is an ephemeral installation which combines poetry and photographic media. The project features two modified carousel projectors - one showcasing a series of 80 film slides with pronouns and the other 80 film slides with nouns. The carousels automatically advance each slide every 30 seconds, creating a repeating and endless thread of words questioning the seemingly never ending cycle of war and peace such as “Your” “Blood”, “My” “Love”, and “Our” “Peace”. The endlessly repeating words used all across the project act as a desperate prayer of hope for the future and questioning the fundamental idea of violence as being inherent to human nature.
The slide projectors will be modified to be fitted with a LED light which allows the projection to have continuous operation throughout the exhibition period.
© 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.