As part of being selected as one of the recipients of Fujifilm’s Regional Challenge Grant, all grant winners were invited to exhibit their work at Fujifilm Square in Tokyo — Fujifilm’s flagship gallery space in the heart of the city.
So, in October I packed my bag and flew to Japan.
For someone working at the intersection of photography and archaeology, this trip was more than just a professional milestone. It was a rare opportunity to present my project, PHOTARCH, in a completely different context — far from the museum basements and archive storerooms where the work usually happens. To see images of ancient artefacts, photographed under carefully controlled lighting, hanging in a sleek and modern gallery space in Tokyo was both surreal and deeply rewarding.
The exhibition featured work from photographers around the world, spanning landscape, documentary, portrait, and conceptual genres. Despite our differences in style and subject, there was a shared spirit of experimentation and care — something that came through clearly in the conversations I had during my visit.
Tokyo itself added a layer of contrast that I hadn’t anticipated. Walking through a city so saturated in both tradition and hypermodernity, while thinking about time, objects, and historical context, somehow echoed the themes of the project. Objects from the distant past shown in one of the world’s most future-forward cities — it felt like the right place to be.
A huge thank you to Fujifilm for their support and for offering a space where this kind of work can be seen, questioned, and discussed. The Tokyo visit was a personal and professional highlight — and a strong reminder that heritage photography, too, belongs in the present.
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