Total Recall: Remembering Japan's Temple of Speed brings to life memories from motorsport's golden age through a series of historic and rare photographs from Joe Honda's rediscovered archive.
In partnership with award-winning Tokyo photo atelier Shashin Kosha, the exhibition shines a light on a landmark international non-championship race at the Fuji Speedway in October 1966. It offers a rare and intimate glimpse of the nation's emergence on the global motorsport scene. And it does so through the lens of Asia's father of motorsport photography.
Poster: © Joe Honda Initiative, 2020
To the Japanese cognoscenti, the American Indianapolis 500 was a celebrated race, and hosting the first international Indy event in Japan would signal their country's arrival as an industrial power. The foreign drivers who came to Japan for the event were unaware of their role in a new kind of avant-garde art form that fused color, sound and technology. One photo in Honda's series captures British driver Jim Clark relaxing in his vehicle while receiving advice from his friend Colin Chapman, an influential designer and founder of Lotus. In another, we see motorsport legend Jackie Stewart racing along the precarious bends of the speedway as he raises a hand in victory to excited Japanese onlookers.
As well as sparking Japan's golden age of motoring, this landmark race was also pivotal in launching Honda's photography career. His chance encounter with three-time British Formula One world champion Jackie Stewart at the Fuji Speedway that day triggered his resolve to venture abroad to document the people, culture and technology at the heart of the global motorsport scene.
In our fast-evolving world, individual and collective memories – including those of era-defining events – are at risk of disappearing. Even photographic film, which provides a window to the past, is vulnerable to the passage of time. But through the interplay of lived experience and imagery, Total Recall commemorates a defining event in Japanese history and a meeting that shaped one photographer's career and, ultimately, the art of motorsport photography itself.
This exhibition is supported by award-winning Tokyo-based photo atelier Shashin Kosha. It is curated by Emiko Jozuka and Takuji Yanagisawa, the president of Shashin Kosha.
Exhibition dates: Dec. 5, 2020 - Jan 8, 2021
The exhibition space is open Monday to Saturday between 10H and 22H. Access info can be found here.