Building Blocks of Narratives: New Solo Exhibits by Kei Ito and R.L. Tillman
Kei Ito’s solo exhibition Teach Me How to Like This Planet at the College of Maryland’s Stamp Gallery is a somber exploration of generational trauma as a third generation hibakusha (atomic bomb target), and the repercussions of war. Ito’s practice is based in camera-significantly less images, uncovered objects, and textual content-dependent artworks.
Two discovered item-will work develop haunting mechanical appears. “Talking Heads,” is an installation of two analogue radios on chest-superior pedestals with an eerie static noise and sporadic voices that audio like antique radio recordings, wherever “Who will be the up coming sacrifice of peace?” and “Who will be the following sacrifice of war?” is recurring slowly and gradually above and above.
The static, mechanical and human sounds construct an impression of a barren landscape, and the repetition of every single phrase feels both of those unsure and totally hopeless considering that it suggests an unending likelihood of conflict.