Akito Tsuda Photographs

Akito Tsuda (1966-) is a Japanese photographer. Born in Hamamatsu, Japan, he came to the United States in 1988, attended English as a second language classes and enrolled in Columbia College to study photography. In 1990, he moved to Chicago to study photography at Columbia College. While working on an assignment to document a neighborhood in Chicago, he stumbled across the Pilsen neighborhood located in the city’s Lower West Side community area. Despite speaking very little English and no Spanish, Tsuda forged an intercultural bond with the area’s predominantly Latinx residents. He composed approximately 400 images of the Pilsen and Maxwell Street areas from 1991 to 1994. The subjects of his black and white photography include candid groups of Mexican-American children, family activities, interior scenes with domestic activities, street scenes and a few workplace interiors. “An immigrant among immigrants,” is how Tsuda describes his experiences in Chicago.

Tsuda has stated the following about his photography:

“My interest is not to find an answer or draw a conclusion of what I have seen, but rather taking a photo of people is more a learning experience that helps me grow as a person. I usually click the shutter of my camera only a few times for each subject. It does not mean resistance against the growing proliferation of images everywhere these days, but I prefer concentrate on staying in the moment so that I can take a photograph without being too emotive or invasive. The presence of others and sharing the moment with people have been essential to enriching my life and those experiences have helped to build my self-esteem. I've learned the value of authenticity from people who have trusted me and stood in front of my camera. I would like to live up to what I believe I've learned from people's everyday lives.”

Tsuda returned to Japan in 1994, taking his photos with him, where they were kept in storage for more than 20 years. In 2014, he began posting images on various social media sites in an effort to reconnect with members of the Pilsen community. The response by community members to Tsuda’s posts led to return visits to Chicago, community events and exhibition opportunities.

Tsuda created several limited edition publications of his photographic works, including: Street Cats (2001), Maxwell Street (2004), Breath in Breath out (2015), made me better than before (2015), Tom (2016), Pilsen Days (2017),Pilsen Days: A Neighborhood Story (2022), Chicago 1994 (2018), you in me (2018) and we are all mirrors of each other (2020).

His work has been exhibited in Japan, Italy, and the United States.