Untitled.Showa is an evolving photographic project that aims to solve a mystery and make new meanings through found photographs. The audience is invited to interact with a collection of old photographs from Japan (300-plus photographs taken between the 1930s and the 1960s in Japan), found at a flea market in Australia, to solve a historic puzzle, with a view to collectively finding ways to (re)unite the original prints with the people in the photographs, their families, or the copyright holder/s, or to find an appropriate archive, and in real time, to participate in the unfolding of a contemporary story. The Untitled.Showa collection of photographs was found in 2015, and they were digitised and uploaded onto a bilingual (English and Japanese) interactive web portal in 2020 (https://untitled.showa.com.au/). Visitors to the web portal can participate by uploading clues to find the people in the photographs. Since then, Untitled.Showa has captured the imagination of many, with exhibitions in Sydney (April-May 2021), Geelong (July-August 2021) and Adelaide (October 2021). Exhibition guests, workshop participants and social media communities have contributed to our aggregate knowledge of the photographs. We found that many of the photographs were taken inside the former Kyoto Daiei Film Studios, and many more were photographed at locations in Kyoto City and surrounding regions. September this 2021 coincides with Daiei Dori Shotengai (Kinema Street Chamber of Commerce)’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. Daiei Dori Shotengai is in Uzumasa, Kyoto, where the Kyoto Daiei Film Studios used to stand. With Kinema Kitchen, a café in Daiei Dori, which already displays photographs and memorabilia from the Kyoto Daiei Film Studios as our main hub, Untitled.Showa will exhibit our collection of found photographs taken in the studios along the shopfronts of Daiei Dori. Each participating venue from the Shotengai will exhibit one photograph each. Whenever possible, photographs will be exhibited on the outside of the venue window, allowing visitors safety during COVID restrictions. Untitled.Showa calls on the good will and creativity of visitors to Kyotographie exhibitions to help us return these once lost photographs, as well as to contribute artworks inspired by the Untitled.Showa collection and to illuminate Japanese Australian histories.

キュレーター ｜サンディ・エドワーズ
Sponsor ｜Australia-Japan Foundation / Inner West Council / Nikkei Australia / Japanese Association of Geelong / Daiei Dori Shotengai Chamber of Commerce / 107 Projects / Geelong Library and Heritage Centre

会場 ｜大映通り商店街
大映通り商店街の各店店頭　>Google Map
Shop fronts in Daiei Dori Shotengai

Open: 9/17-10/17 各店の営業時間内オープン
075-882-3309 (NPO法人みのりのもり劇場)