
13 Jan 2025
Jack
B Bedell

Full
Moon
Jan 29th
Dec 30th
Sungazing
After Kei Ito’s series
Each Tolling Sun
The artist brings his sledgehammer
down on a flat sheet of metal
he plans to use to catch sunlight.
He wants to cast that light onto
photo paper in bursts of energy.
He needs us to feel its sudden heat.
Each hammer blow echoes around
his studio like spots of time,
memories of his grandfather walking
the streets near Hiroshima,
school bells, heartbeats.
Over ninety-three million miles away,
atoms burst apart inside the sun.
Each tiny explosion births
the light he hopes will burn
his paper with red and orange
and gold circles. Fires
to remind us all of our mistakes.
Behind the poem...
At the Hilliard Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana, I led a workshop featuring Kei Ito’s series, Each Tolling Sun. I was profoundly moved by his images, knowing Ito’s connection to ancestors harmed in the bombing of Hiroshima, and his intent to shed light on the inhumanity of nuclear war. I was also stunned by the innovative techniques Ito used: the physicality involved in his process, the lasting resonance of each piece. I felt compelled to write Sungazing – both in tribute, and in debt, to the artist.