Sungazing


  • Photographer
    Kei Ito
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2015
  • Technical Info
    C-prints

"That day in Hiroshima was like hundreds of Suns lighting up the sky.” This statement was from my grandfather who was an A-bomb survivor in Hiroshima 1945. My grandfather fought against the use of nuclear weaponry throughout his life, until he too passed away from lung cancer when I was ten years old. In order to express the connection between the Sun and my family history, I have created 108 prints made by exposing Type-C photographic paper to sunlight. The exposure time was the length of my breath.

Story

On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15 AM, my grandfather, Takeshi Ito, witnessed a great tragedy that destroyed nearly everything in Hiroshima. He survived the bombing, yet he lost his sister, Kikuko, from the explosion and other family members from 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’s history, I have created 108 letter size prints which were made by exposing Type-C photographic paper to sunlight. The pattern on the prints corresponds to my breath. In a darkened room, I exposed the paper in front of a small aperture to expose it to the direct sun light for the duration of my one breath, inhaling and exhaling. I repeated this action until I breathed one hundred and eight times. One hundred eight is a number with ritual significance in Japanese Buddhism and culture, called Joya no Kane. It’s an event where all of the Buddhist temples in the country strike human size or larger bells one hundred and eight times from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day. The number corresponds to the number of evil desires that we suffer from on earth, which is believed to cause war. This rids us of our evil passions, and purifies us for the upcoming year. The ritualistic image making of this repeating act, which corresponds to my breath, has become the act of remembrance.
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 in the shadow of this print.


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