GOTAT | GUTHATH | 時代の潮目| Tides: An Exhibition of Archival Photographs of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) from the National Museum of Ethnology (Osaka, Japan)

Abstract

Curated by the ANU Japan Zenadth Kes Project (JZK), GOTAT | GUTHATH | 時代の潮目 | Tides, will showcase never-before-exhibited photographs in a celebration of relationships and friendships spanning borders, cultures and time.

On display for the first time in Australia this exhibition of archival photographs captures a momentous era in Zenadth Kes (then Torres Strait) history—the 1970s—a period marked by profound political, social, and economic change, and of remarkable strength, resilience, and creativity by communities.

Photographs are from the George Ohshima Collection at the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku), Japan. Professor Ohshima was a pioneering figure in Japanese Pacific Studies with connections to scholars world-wide including Australia and the ANU. His collection comprises over 10,000 images taken across Asia and the Pacific - of these, more than 2,000 were taken in Zenadth Kes offering a rare and vivid window into everyday life 50 years ago.

Professor George Ohshima and nine other Japanese researchers—the Torres Strait Kenkyūkai (study group)—visited every community in the region of Zenadth Kes. This exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary since the Kenkyūkai began its field research in 1975. The exhibition also features photographs from the personal archives of other notable researchers in the Kenkyūkai: Dr Hironobu Kitaoji, Professor Hiroyuki Matsumoto and Dr Michiya Hata.