KT&G Sangsangmadang Busan Gallery, 'Anonymous Project Busan' Exhibition

800,000 Vintage Color Film Photos First Domestic Tour

KT&G Sangsangmadang Busan Gallery will hold the exhibition ‘Anonymous Project Busan ? The Moments We Stopped’ from May 1 to September 22.

The exhibition, held at the KT&G Sangsangmadang Busan 5F Gallery located on Seomyeon-ro in Busan, is open for viewing from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. with no closing days.

The Anonymous Project began in 2017 when director Lee Shulman accidentally purchased a box of vintage film slides at a flea market.

As the name ‘Anonymous’ suggests, the project was established to preserve vintage color film slides taken by unknown photographers worldwide.

The photographs were taken mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 1980s, recording universal everyday emotions rather than grand narratives such as history and politics.

In 2022, the project received warm praise from 150,000 visitors in Seoul, showcasing over 300 vintage photographs taken with Kodachrome 35mm film, which is no longer produced.

The Anonymous Project, which presents the emotions and stories of moments that digital cameras cannot capture, can be considered the world’s most unique amateur photography collection and serves as a vernacular photography collection with sociological and geographical significance.

Since cameras became widely available in the 1950s, even non-professional photographers have been able to clearly capture moments they want to preserve, making photographs a record of the lifestyle at the time. However, this exhibition invites visitors to find special happiness in ordinary moments shared with those around them in their daily lives.

On April 30, one day before the opening of the ‘Anonymous Project Busan’ exhibition, a private preview event will be held with Lee Shulman, the director and collector of the Anonymous Project, visiting Korea. The event will include an artist talk, autograph session, lucky draw, and other activities.