Homecoming, the first exhibition of The Anonymous Project in the United States, transforms the FIAF building into a space of collective memory through whimsical, vintage photographs collected by artist and filmmaker Lee Shulman from around the country over the last seven years.
Taking over each floor of FIAF, this unique photography installation features the largest collection of one-of-a-kind photographs by everyday people ever exhibited in the U.S. From Gallery to Skyroom, from floor to ceiling, Homecoming illustrates intimate moments of family life and familial celebration, such as birthdays, weddings, and holidays. A labyrinth installation in the FIAF Gallery is made up of photo negatives combined to create a stained-glass window effect, immersing visitors in a kaleidoscope of captured memories from the last 70 years.
Started by Shulman in 2017, The Anonymous Project aims to collect, preserve, and exhibit unique Kodachrome slides and vintage photographs taken by regular people. Each installment of the project focuses on a specific theme, highlighting moments from everyday life and festive occasions.
Join us on Thursday, June 1, from 6–8pm for the exhibition’s opening with Lee Shulman in attendance.
About The Anonymous Project
Collecting and preserving unique color slides from the last seven decades, The Anonymous Project was born out of a desire to preserve this collective memory and give a second life to the people often forgotten in these timeless moments captured in stunning Kodachrome color.
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These amateur photographs are a kaleidoscopic diary of that era, all the more fascinating and arresting because of their unpolished quality. Often funny, surprising and touching, these images tell the stories of all our lives. The Anonymous Project has in turn become an artistic endeavor that seeks to give meaning to these once forgotten memories and create new ways of interpretation and storytelling that question our place in the world today.
The Anonymous Project has been shown around the world and is reputed for its unique way of curating and exhibiting the images in immersive and experimental installations that bring to life these once forgotten memories. The unique selections of images all come from the private collection of Lee Shulman, which today numbers over 800,000 slides.
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About Lee Shulman
Born in London, UK, now living and working in Paris, Lee Shulman is a film director and artist, and founder of The Anonymous Project.
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Lee graduated from the University of Westminster with a Bachelor of Arts and became a multiple award-winning film director and artist working in advertising and music videos. He founded The Anonymous Project as an arts project in 2017 after he bought a box of slides online and immediately fell in love with the people and stories he discovered. It has gone on to become one of the most important and unique collections of amateur photography slides in the world, a forgotten collective memory now brought back to life through exhibitions, publications, and collaborative art projects.
His first book, Mid-Century Memories (Taschen), was named The Times Photography Book of the year. His most recent book, Deja View, which pairs his work alongside the work of photographer Martin Parr, came out end of 2021 to critical acclaim and was the subject of various exhibitions in 2022.
His exhibition The House was one of the highlights at the Photography Festival in Arles in 2019. Since then, his immersive experiences have been exhibited widely and internationally, including artworks, large scale installations and projections that bring to life the unique images from the collection.
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