2023
TOTAL SENSE OF ABSORPTION
Performance using silver gelatin black and white photography paper, photo developer, disposal hazmat suit, uranium glass bowl, artist's body
42 in. x 99 ft.
Total Sense of Absorption is a multimedia piece that resulted from a live performance on February 28th, 2023.
The performance involved me wearing a hazmat suit while holding an uranium glass bowl - a style of glass made with uranium popular during the 1950s - filled with photo developer and walking on B&W darkroom paper. During this walk, I took 452 steps and stopped every so often to re-dip my bare feet into the developer. The resulting image from these steps is a 100ft long black and white American flag.
The number of steps correlates directly to the number of successfully cleaned up Superfund Sites - sites of contamination due to varying causes across the United States. Currently, there are 1,329 sites that still need to be cleaned. Inside of the footsteps I have scratched the date and time of the clean up of these sites as well as the ones responsible for the contamination.
This large scale photogram highlights and celebrates the expurgation of the 452 sites and recognizes the monumental task of healing the land’s trauma. Conversely, it also draws attention to the large amount of hazardous sites that still exist - the blank areas of the flag normally where the white stripes would go gives plenty of space for more footsteps to be added serving as both a record and call to action.
--
Special thanks to Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design:
Prof. Osamu-James Nakagawa, Elizabeth M. Claffey, David Ondrik
and
MFA. Laura Greenwood, Leni Wiegand, Dustin Nguyen, Albert Sanchez, Justin Carney, Maria Desantiago, BFA. Nick Johnson, Austin Clark, Dalton Wainscott, Lydia Norton, Sidney Miller.
2023
TOTAL SENSE OF ABSORPTION
Performance using silver gelatin black and white photography paper, photo developer, disposal hazmat suit, uranium glass bowl, artist's body
42 in. x 99 ft.
Total Sense of Absorption is a multimedia piece that resulted from a live performance on February 28th, 2023.
The performance involved me wearing a hazmat suit while holding an uranium glass bowl - a style of glass made with uranium popular during the 1950s - filled with photo developer and walking on B&W darkroom paper. During this walk, I took 452 steps and stopped every so often to re-dip my bare feet into the developer. The resulting image from these steps is a 100ft long black and white American flag.
The number of steps correlates directly to the number of successfully cleaned up Superfund Sites - sites of contamination due to varying causes across the United States. Currently, there are 1,329 sites that still need to be cleaned. Inside of the footsteps I have scratched the date and time of the clean up of these sites as well as the ones responsible for the contamination.
This large scale photogram highlights and celebrates the expurgation of the 452 sites and recognizes the monumental task of healing the land’s trauma. Conversely, it also draws attention to the large amount of hazardous sites that still exist - the blank areas of the flag normally where the white stripes would go gives plenty of space for more footsteps to be added serving as both a record and call to action.
--
Special thanks to Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design:
Prof. Osamu-James Nakagawa, Elizabeth M. Claffey, David Ondrik
and
MFA. Laura Greenwood, Leni Wiegand, Dustin Nguyen, Albert Sanchez, Justin Carney, Maria Desantiago, BFA. Nick Johnson, Austin Clark, Dalton Wainscott, Lydia Norton, Sidney Miller.
© 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.