Kei Ito

Kei Ito is a visual artist working primarily with camera-less photography and installation art who is currently teaching at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC. He received an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, 2016. His work addresses issues of deep intergenerational loss and connections as he explores the materiality and experimental processes of photography. Ito’s work is rooted in the trauma and legacy passed down from his late grandfather – a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima – and meditates on the complexity of his identity and heritage.

Kei Ito has been Artist in Residence at MASS MoCA, the Marva and John Warnock Biennial A-I-R, Center for Photography at Woodstock, and Creative Alliance. His works are included in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Norton Museum of Art, En Foco, CIIS and CPW. Previous exhibition reviews can be read on Washington Post, Hyperallergic, BmoreArt, ArtMaze Magazine, Washington City Paper and BBC Culture/Art.

“Burning Away is a riveting, compelling project which captures the invisible traces that shape our present selves… The repetition of materials in the treatment of the burns and the creation of the images, and the unusual patterns all lend themselves to a series that prompts thought at a cellular and social level.” – Mariama Attah, Curator, Open Eye Gallery