Hibernacula

“Hibernacula” is Katie Ito's mixed-media body of work that uses embroidery, plant preservation, cyanotype installations, and painted recipes to honor and explore identity. Hibernacula means a shelter where animals seek refuge, or for Ito, it is a word she has attached to her past year, which she spent reflecting on what it means not just to build a shelter but also a creative practice and a life.

Ito spent the past year shifting from college life to post-undergrad life, moving into a one-bedroom apartment in Indy, experiencing the growing pains of living alone in her early twenties, and navigating long-distance friendships. During this time, Ito used making art to explore themes of scattering and shelter in her current phase of life and her family history.

As the theme of identity began to unfold in the work Ito was making, she realized the work was a way to honor her father's lineage and her Japanese heritage. This is reflected in the series titled “Diaspora,” in which Ito stitches fabric with a traditional Japanese pattern and binds delicately preserved plants between fabric and thread. Each of these four works of art is paired with a generation in her family and a season of the year. For this series, Ito explored the decorative embroidery called Sashiko, which not only acts as an art form but is a functional tradition of mending. 

Ito makes space for this tradition of mending to be not only a physical act but also an internal exploration as she seeks to connect to her history. "I have felt disconnected from my Japanese heritage for a long time," Says Ito. The practice of Sashiko was a way for her to commemorate her heritage and weave her own personal, present-day story into her familial diaspora. 

The question at the center of Ito's Diaspora series is: "How do I bridge the gap to my family living in Japan four generations back?" Ito reflects on the experiences of her great-grandparents, who lived in Japan, her grandparents, who immigrated to the U.S. and experienced displacement in internment camps before settling in the Midwest, her father, who spent his life in Indianapolis, and finally, her own story and the complexities within it.

“I had the desire to create a visual language to care about the connection to my heritage," Says Ito. "Hibernacula" expresses this desire and signifies Ito's emergence from a state of hibernation to a space where she can now offer refuge and shelter to others.

Hibernacula can be viewed anytime in City Gallery through November during Gallery Hours: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The works can also be viewed and purchased on our online gallery through December.