AHRC International Placement at Minpaku

Between January and April 2013, I was the recipient of an AHRC International Placement at the National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku), Osaka, where I researched the George Brown Collection of ethnographic artefacts from the South Pacific. 

Barnard Castle-born missionary George Brown was an active collector of ethnographic and natural history specimens between 1860 and 1907. Most of his personal collection, comprising over 3000 items, is held at Minpaku. 

I used Instagram to document my 3 month residency through regular photo updates which can be seen on my Flickr page. 

An Instagram photograph I took on the platform at Osaka JR station in April 2013.

An Instagram photograph I took in Utsubo Park, Osaka, in February 2013. 

An Instagram photograph I took near JR Sannomiya station, Kob, in April 2013.

These digital traces of my encounter with Japan were later made material when I used them to develop surface decoration for the George Brown Series of porcelain vessels.

One of the vessels from the George Brown Series which features imagery derived from my Instagram photographs above. Photo: Jo Howell, 2014.