DIGITAL RESIDENT
Kei Ito

february 2025

Kei Ito is an interdisciplinary installation artist and immigrant, navigating themes entrenched in trauma and inheritance within the context of his identity and heritage. His artistic practice is deeply rooted in the profound legacy passed down from his late grandfather, a resilient survivor of the harrowing atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This familial narrative, coupled with the loss of numerous family members to the explosion's aftermath and radiation poisoning, serves as the cornerstone of Ito's creative exploration.

Before his passing, Ito's grandfather vividly described the catastrophic day in Hiroshima as "like hundreds of suns lighting up the sky." These poignant words echo through Ito's artistic vision, shaping his primary focus on employing camera-less photography techniques that expose light-sensitive materials to sunlight. In a captivating and deeply personal approach, Ito incorporates breath as the exposure time, symbolically linking the act of creation to the essence of life itself.

Ito's creative narrative transcends individual experience, shedding light on broader global issues. Through his art, he delves into hidden histories, employing his generational past as a lens for contemplating contemporary and future events. Ito's artworks become temporal monuments that transcend traditional views of art by placing them in both art and non-art spaces alike, inviting audiences to explore nuanced social issues and honor the memories of those lost to historical and contemporary tragedies.

Ito's artistic contributions have been widely recognized and exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions. His works have garnered attention in esteemed publications such as the Washington Post Magazine, Hyperallergic, BBC Culture & Art, BmoreArt, Denver Post, ESSE Magazine, and various newspapers worldwide. Notably, his pieces are held in esteemed institutional collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, IL), the Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, FL), the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art (Fort Collins, CO), the Eskenazi Museum of Art (Bloomington, IN), and the Georgia Museum of Art (Athens, GA).

Learn more about Kei’s work here.