Akito Tsuda: Pilsen Days, Audio Recordings and Transcripts Archival Collection
CPL's Digital Collections document life in Chicago through archival images, documents, audio recordings and artifacts.
About
Japanese photographer Akito Tsuda came to Chicago in 1988 and studied at Columbia College 1990-1994. A photography class assignment brought him to the Lower West Side neighborhood of Pilsen, where he took hundreds of pictures over four years. The images depict the people—largely Mexican American—and places of Pilsen at the time, capturing building and neighborhood exteriors and intimate interiors of people’s homes. The faces of Pilsen’s community light up the photos, showing their participation in the act.
Tsuda returned to Japan and did not exhibit or share the photos for many years. In 2014, he began posting them on social media in the hopes of reaching some of the subjects. The outpouring of response was immediate. People were thrilled to see the photos of themselves or family members, some of whom had since passed away. Tsuda began reconnecting with the community through the comments they left on his posts. Eventually, he returned to Chicago to meet with people and share the books he had created with the photos.
In 2021, Chicago Public Library Special Collections, with the help of Chicago Public Library Foundation, purchased around 100 of Tsuda’s photographs. Then, through the generous support of the Terra Foundation for American Art, CPL began planning an exhibition of Tsuda’s work to open in June 2024. As part of the exhibit planning, Tsuda returned to Chicago in late 2022.
During Tsuda’s 2022 visit, he met with people who had appeared in his photographs, or their relatives, and recorded conversations about their lives, his time in Chicago, the photographs, and Pilsen. An open house event was also held during Tsuda’s Chicago trip in 2022 to allow community members to view the photographs and visit with him. At that event, some people chose to leave audio comments about the photos and Pilsen.
The audio recordings made during Tsuda’s 2022 visit, and their transcripts, are available in this digital collection. To view Tsuda's photographs, please make an appointment to visit the Special Collections Reading Room.
Questions or concerns about rights and access to this digital collection? See our Copyright and Takedown Policy.
Acknowledgment of Harmful Materials
Chicago Public Library collects images, documents and other archival materials from different communities and time periods to preserve and make available the cultural and historical record. As historical objects, some of these materials contain harmful or disturbing content. CPL presents these artifacts as an unfiltered social record and does not endorse the views expressed therein.
