Collection of Records - Hanako's Landscape: Turning Images Upside Down

"A Collection of Records: A Landscape with Hanako – Flipping Images." This book compiles records and memories surrounding Hanako, an Asian elephant who lived at Tokyo's Inokashira Park Zoo for many years and passed away in 2016 at the age of 69. It was planned by AHA! [Archive for Human Activities] and published by Musashino City Kichijoji Art Museum in 2017. This item is the third printing of the second edition, issued in 2019.

Hanako was born in Thailand in 1947, came to Japan shortly after the war, and spent most of her life at Inokashira Park Zoo. AHA! noted that many commemorative photos of Hanako taken by people of various generations at different times remained in family albums. They collected photos from citizens and reconfigured them along with daily keeping logs from the day the photos were taken, questionnaires for photo providers, and submitted writings.

Photos of family visits to the zoo, children and adults standing before Hanako, and daily records written by zookeepers. By superimposing personal records, scattered in different places, along a timeline, the 69 years of one elephant's life and the memories of the people who spent time around her intersect. The book is structured not only to document Hanako herself but also to trace why people took photos in front of the elephant and preserved those photos.

Interviewing, editing, writing, and composition were handled by Atsushi Matsumoto; design and composition by Shunsuke Onaka (Calamari Inc.); and Kazushi Hosaka contributed a piece. The binding, which includes pasted-in and inserted photos and small booklets, involved the participation of Musashino Work Center Keyaki, a social welfare corporation, for the pasting and insertion work. This is a collection of records for a project that was exhibited at the Musashino City Kichijoji Art Museum in 2017, the "Kuandu Biennale 2018" in 2018, and "At the Zoo" at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in 2023, among others.

[Title] A Collection of Records: A Landscape with Hanako – Flipping Images I’m calling you. rebirth (reverse) of humans and the elephant.
[Publisher] Musashino City Kichijoji Art Museum
[Publication Date] January 10, 2019 (2nd edition, 3rd printing)
[Number of Pages] Unpaginated (192 pages)
[Size] Approx. 223×189×18mm / 685g
[Format] Softcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] KIROKUSHUU HANAKO NO IRU FUUKEI IMAGE O (HI') KURI KAESU
[Author/Editor, etc.] AHA! [Archive for Human Activities] / Planning, Atsushi Matsumoto (AHA!) / Interviewing, Editing, Writing, Composition, Shunsuke Onaka (Calamari Inc.) / Design, Composition, Yo Ouchi / Interviewing, Editing Assistant, Kazushi Hosaka / Contributor
[Printing/Binding] Omura Printing Co., Ltd. / Printing, Binding, Musashino Work Center Keyaki, Social Welfare Corporation / Pasting, Insertion
[ISBN] 9784990977207
[Condition] Used [6] Good to Fair (Fold on back cover's attached illustration, slight stains on top and fore-edge, minor scratches on edges)
[Accessories] Booklet "Flipping Images," pasted-in/inserted items, etc.
[Featured in] -
[Related Exhibitions] "Conservation_Piece" Musashino City Kichijoji Art Museum, 2017 / "Kuandu Biennale 2018" Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, 2018–2019 / "At the Zoo" Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 2023–2024

AHA! (Archive for Human Activities)

An archive project that collects records left by ordinary people, such as 8mm films, photographs, letters, and family albums, and re-reads them. It began its activities in Osaka in 2005, based on the NPO Organization for Records, Expression, and Media [remo].

Starting from individual records and memories, it reconfigures images left in different times and places in the form of exhibitions, publications, and web archives. It also develops projects in collaboration with art museums, universities, and citizen groups.

Representative activities include "A Landscape with Hanako – Flipping Images" and the website "Setagaya Chronicle 1936–83." Since 2022, it has also been active as a publishing label.

< Related Figures >

AHA! [Archive for Human Activities]
Atsushi Matsumoto
Shunsuke Onaka
Kazushi Hosaka
Musashino City Kichijoji Art Museum
Inokashira Park Zoo