Through his photographic works, Itoi deals with issues such as self-identity, childhood memories, and boundaries between private and public. The experience of living in foreign countries almost for quarter of his life makes a major part of his image making. Some of his recent projects are about the light as a metaphor of the divider between life and death, and about the prayer’s spots in Japan and Finland inspired by the animism and their countries’ history. His works have been exhibited internationally at venues including the National Art Center of Japan, the Arts Maebashi Museum, the Kurumaya Museum of Art, the Nikon Salon Tokyo, and the Gallery Hippolyte Helsinki. His works are in private collections internationally, and in public collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
He is a recipient of the Discovery of the Fotofest 2014; the Grant for Emerging Artists by the Japanese Ministry of Culture; artist in residence of Fiskars, Finland; fellowship by Houston Center for Photography; and fellowship by National Graduate Seminar, American Photography Institute of New York.
Itoi received a B.F.A. in Photography from Herron School of Art, and an M.F.A. in Photography from University of North Texas. He was a visiting assistant professor of Photography at Indiana University for a year in 2001.
He currently lives in the mountain range of Gunma, which is 140 kilometers out from Tokyo, and works as a lumberjack/arborist. He enjoys the advantage of utilizing the 100-square-mete
