What is PROJECT UNKNOWN.
Project unknown is about locating colour slides from unknown past amateur photographers, reprocessing them and showing them off to the world. I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and to think that I’m saving these images from never being seen and thus lost forever. Even though I have never met these photographers, and some may have passed so I’ll never meet them, I feel I am bringing these people and these memories back to life. I am very protective of these slides, treating everyone like it’s precious and being respectful to them as I feel if someone previously took the time to shoot that image, have it processed and then keep it safe until what probably happened was a house clearance and it was disposed of like a cheap commodity so I feel it’s my duty to keep them safe and show the world these images.
These images are separated into sets, each set being a collection of images from that bundle of slides that were purchased. Some sets are large quantities from the same family such as set one that follows a family in their journeys and sees the children grow up. Other sets are smaller and may be just landscape. These sets will form part of an exhibition in the future based around these unknown photographers.
What started life as a chance purchase on a well know online auction site has grown to a collection of 1000’s of slides as the addiction to uncover new images of past social history grows.
