Whether you love photography or Tokyo’s sprawling cityscape, you should make a beeline for this exhibition in Koenji. For the first time, three street photography collectives – VoidTokyo, Frame Tokyo and Tokyo-SPC – are coming together for a group exhibition from July 20 to 25. Tokyo Street Photography Group Exhibition 2021 Summer is divided into three distinct exhibitions held across two adjacent galleries: VoidTokyo is taking over Clouds Gallery + Coffee while Frame and Tokyo-SPC are sharing the space at Blank.
Established in 2017, the collective VoidTokyo is dedicated to depicting the city’s ever-changing landscape. It also publishes a namesake photography zine that’s highly regarded in Japan as well as overseas. For this exhibition, seven members of the collective and seven guest photographers, including Ash Shinya Kawaoto, Joel Pulliam and Agis (who shot the photo in the event poster), have contributed photographs of Tokyo taken amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Frame Tokyo, on the other hand, comprises seven street photographers who aim to change people's perceptions of Tokyo through their varied and compelling photography works. In November last year, the group released a series of photo books called 'Tokyo Guide’, which features a selection of Tokyo’s best photo spots. For this exhibition however, Frame Tokyo is putting out works that revolve around the theme of noise. These prints, taken by Shunsuke Matsunaga, Takeshi Ishikawa and Yume Katsumi, just to name a few, portray loud moments in the Greater Tokyo region.
Created in 2018, Tokyo Street Photography Club (Tokyo-SPC) is a community of street photographers with a penchant for film photography (though not exclusively so). The group recently released its first zine in May and has previously staged two exhibitions. This exhibition will showcase works from 19 members including the collective founder Yusuke Nagata as well as Hashim Smith. The works on display will be divided into two themes: colours and night stories. There will also be silver gelatin and platinum prints.