Portrait of Kei Ito
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Kei Ito

Awards Received

Individual Artist

2018

About the Artist

Kei Ito is a US-based photographer and installation artist who graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art ('16) with an MFA in Photography, following his BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology ('14). Kei's work addresses issues of generational connection and deep loss as he explores the materiality of photography as a medium. His recent work deals with the tragedy and legacy passed on from his grandfather who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, yet died from cancer, and the threat of nuclear disaster which is still present today. His photo based installation take the audience on a journey of grief, remembrance, and hope. Through his ritualistic image-making, the audience may see how his family history grapples with the legacy of nuclear weapons and power. Thus, his art serves as an intermediary between the heritage of Kei's grandfather and todays nuclear climate as a memento. Kei's artistic vision has been recognized byvarious awards and institutions such as the Manifest One Award(OH), the Rubys Artist Project Grant(MD), the Snider Prize(IL), and Awards for Innovations in Imaging(LA). His works are in the permanent collections of institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and Norton Museum of Art in Florida. His most recent large scale installation project, Afterimage Requiem, has been reviewed and covered by major media outlets such as the Washington Post Magazine, the Baltimore Sun, and BBC World News.

Kei Ito website View Website

Featured Work

Photos

108 letter sized prints of the C-print made with Sunlight. The each exposure time was length of a breath.
It has been said that day in Hiroshima was like hundreds of suns lighting up the sky. I have created 108 letter size prints and a scroll made by exposing Type-C photographic paper to sunlight.
As the A-bomb exploded in Hiroshima it not only burned the people into shadows and ash but also it's culture too. A dictionary was found incinerated, and with the ink had turned white on the blackened pages, as if it were rendered into a photographic negative.
The photograph of the Sun was taken in Hiroshima on August 6th 2015, at 8:15 AM, which is the exact time the A-bomb was detonated 70 years prior. The picture was taken from a specific location where the sun would correspond visually to the place in the sky where the bomb was exploded.
The airplane delivered the purest light which vaporized entire bodies of innocents, leaving only their shadows. Should the future bear witness to this light, there will be none left to be called angels.
Summer 1945, Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb named Little Boy onto the city of Hiroshima. It has been said that day in Hiroshima was like hundreds of suns lighting up the sky. The inverted image was formed with the shadow of a model of the Enola Gay onto the light sensitive paper.