BmoreArt

Born in Tokyo in 1991, Ito was an introverted, sensitive child. He struggled in school. His parents found him a high school in New Zealand, where he cultivated an interest in photography. Next, he came to the United States, eventually attending the Maryland Institute College of Art where he earned an MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media. There he began crafting performances about his family, culture of origin, and their relation to the atomic bomb.

Beginning in 2015, his early work included “Sungazing Print,”108 pieces of letter-sized photo paper exposed directly to the sun using the artist’s breath as a timer, and “Sungazing Scroll,” 108 interconnected prints on a paper roll. 108 is a number the artist uses due to its repeated ritual significance in Japanese Buddhism—it is said to remove evil and provide soul purification. All the images in these two projects are a blurry bright yellow to orange with dark fuzzy black in the middle—the result of his breath. They connect him with his grandfather. Like much of his art to follow, they carry a weighty, terrible beauty related to the various detonated atomic and related nuclear activity.

Soon after came “Thirst,” a eulogistic performance of video, projection, and music ensemble that addresses the harrowing story of blast survivors who were so severely burnt and thirsty they leaped into nearby rivers, only to drown as their throats were too damaged to swallow. Next came “HIROSHIMA 08.06.2015 8:15AM,” a ritual remembrance that presents a single black-and-white photograph of the sun over the city taken at the time and day the bomb was dropped, 70 years later. On the ground is a dictionary, burnt to feathery charred ash, a simulation of the books Ito’s grandfather lost in the firestorm that day.

Since then, the artist has produced over forty series of works. He visited key locations, such as Los Alamos and other test sites where bombs were detonated and deadly radiation swept out to be carried across the world. His new works expand his range of references. He often collaborates with sound artist Andrew Keiper, whose grandfather worked as an engineer on the Manhattan Project, bringing a worldwide all-encompassing quality to his work.

One of Ito’s most significant series is Eye Who Witnessed—a compelling set of C-print photograms of close-ups of the eyes of 54 Japanese atomic bomb victims and 54 American downwinders (victims who were in the path of drifting post-detonation radiation), for a total of 108. This project was the catalyst for Ito’s journey to redefine and re-envision what nuclear victims look like, which go beyond the Japanese. This quest for a more universal sense of identity is especially informed by his migration, life, and work status here in the US. In 2021, during an artist residency, he presented the work at MASS MOCA projected on a building with relevant historical significance. The artist describes the projections as a “temporal monument.”

Currently, Ito is exploring two new projects. With Burning Away, he floods various oils and honey across silver gelatin paper, which is then exposed to sunlight. The result creates organic “body / land” surfaces with flowing textures and a metallic sheen. This series honors survivors who suffered severe body burns. There was little access to treatment, so those wounded applied any liquids they could find to their burnt skin—including honey and oil. These prints allude to survivors’ self healing and the lethal damage that remained at a molecular level.

The artist writes, “These prints symbolize not only the memory of nuclear fire but also the disappearing voices of the survivors. Through the figurative but also intricate detailed patterns that simulate topographical maps or microscopic visions responding to natural and manmade materials, these works not only reflect on the radioactive trauma inflicted on humans but on the land itself. And ultimately, the almost seemingly impossible feat this would be.”

Recently, the artist became an uncle for the first time. Through his niece, he sees a positive future beyond his generation. He acquired some of her clothing and used it as a negative pattern on photo paper to make a series of smaller prints, connecting the new generation she represents to the memory of the lost children of his people’s past. The series is titled Reconstruction of Forgetting. It is printed on photographic darkroom paper which sometimes can result in a pink or brown hue. While still an homage to suffering and loss, this series, now pinned at the core of his oeuvre, is hopeful.

Ito knows nothing can fully heal the trauma of the world’s nuclear past—it is too vast, too horrifying. Still, as an artist, he is dedicated to relating the past to the present in order to foretell visions of the future. He continues to inform by paying homage to his sacred connection to his family so that he can integrate, through myriad means, to all others affected by nuclear devastation.