Can Tamura
Can Tamura (John Wells), born in 1970 in Dover, Delaware (USA), is an artist, filmmaker, and audiovisual anthropologist working between Japan, Türkiye, and Mongolia. Based in Kanazawa and Antalya, his practice explores how ethnographic film and contemporary art intersect—how observation, memory, and lived experience can be translated through moving images.
Tamura holds a BA in Film from Antioch College (USA) and an MA in Visual Anthropology, Media, and Documentary Practices from the University of Münster (Germany). His experimental documentaries often emerge from long-term fieldwork and collaborations with local communities.
He has exhibited internationally, including at the Oku-Noto Triennale 2020+ and the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2022. From 2020 to 2023, he participated in several major exhibitions in Mongolia such as Hybrid Culture (2021) and the Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival (2023). In 2024, he joined the Yamanaka Onsen Art Project in Japan as a researcher and filmmaker.
カン・タムラ（ジョン・ウェルズ）は、1970年アメリカ・デラウェア州ドーバー生まれ。日本、トルコ、モンゴルを中心に活動するアーティスト、映画作家、視聴覚人類学者である。現在は金沢とアンタルヤを拠点に、民族誌映画と現代美術の交差点に焦点を当て、観察・記憶・経験を映像を通して探究している。
アンティオック大学（アメリカ）で映画を学び、ミュンスター大学（ドイツ）で映像人類学・メディア・ドキュメンタリー実践の修士号を取得。彼の作品は、長期的なフィールドワークや地域との共同制作から生まれることが多い。
奥能登国際芸術祭2020+、越後妻有大地の芸術祭2022をはじめ、モンゴルでの《Hybrid Culture》（2021）、《Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival》（2023）などにも参加。2024年より山中温泉アートプロジェクト（日本）にリサーチャー兼映像作家として参加している。
Education
• MA in Visual Anthropology, Media and Documentary Practices, University of
Münster, Germany, 2016 to 2019.
• BA in Communications (film production), Antioch College, USA, 1988 to 1993.
• Study abroad program at Kyoto Seika University, Japan, April to June, 1993.
Selected Group Exhibitions
• Open Your Eyes: Zuun Art 23 International Art Exhibition, Soyombo Tower 1F, Art of UB Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, August 16, 2023.
• 8th Edition of Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival (UBIMAF): Montage, The Fine Arts Zanabazar Museum and White Rock Center, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 23 to 30, 2023.
• Echigo–Tsumari Art Triennale 2022, Tsunan and Tōkamachi, Japan, Kamigo Clove
Theatre and Echigo–Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, MonET, April
29 to November 6, 2022.
• Co–curator and participating artist, Hybrid Culture: Mongolian Public Media Art
2021, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Kanazawa and Kyoto, Japan, December 11 to 19, 2021.
• Oku–Noto Triennale 2020+, Suzu, Japan, September 5 to October 25, 2021.
• Echigo–Tsumari This Year, Tsunan and Tōkamachi, Japan, Kamigo Clove Theatre
and Echigo–Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, MonET, July 22 to
October 31, 2021.
• 6th Edition of the Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival, Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia, June 24 to 30, 2021.
• Kanaiwa Mini Cinema Project: Experimental Version, with Little Cinema Project
(Ryo Uchida, Satoshi Murakami, and Can Tamura), Kanaiwa Studio, 21st Century
Museum of Contemporary Art, March 27, 2021.
• Artists’ Breath–Artists in the Midst of the COVID 19 Pandemic, in conjunction with
Boso Satoyama Art Festival: Ichihara Art x Mix 2020+, Ichihara Lakeside Museum,
March 20 to May 16, 2021.
• HIBIKU, KG+ Kyotographie, Cafe Foodelica, Kyoto, April 19 to May 11, 2014.
• Fotografika 6: Emotion, SoHo Art Gallery, Osaka, September 10 to 15, 2013.
• Transnational Art 2013, Enokojima Art, Culture and Creative Center, Osaka, Japan,
January 29 to February 3, 2013.
• With Wanted Artists Group, White Heat, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall Gallery Yokohama,
April 1999.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
• Can Tamura Solo Exhibition, Gallery Kohfu, Kyoto Japan, September 23 to 25, 2022.
• The Supper Gaze, Gallery Muku, Kanazawa, October 13 to 18, 2017.
• Electric Yen Zone, Gallery Muku, Kanazawa, June 3 to 8, 2016.
• In Flight Art/Landing, Foodelica, Kyoto, October 9 to 25, 2015.
• Ninjin Jyanai, Gallery Muku, Kanazawa, February 6 to 11, 2015.
• Ninjin Jyanai, Foodelica, Kyoto, February 14 to March 16, 2014.
• Zen Art Machine, Jam Sake Bar, Kyoto, July 6 to August 31, 2013.
• Jam Sake Bar, Kyoto, August 19 to November 10, 2012.
• Nostalgia For Nationalist Squid and Other Tales, Mongolian Theatre Museum,
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, March, 2002.
Selected Film Screenings
• Aenokoto at American Folklore Society annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA, November 3, 2023.
• Suzu at Ethnofest, November 27, 2022.
• Shoveler 3 at Golden Ger International Film Festival, June 18 to 20, 2021.
• Okinami at 17th RAI Film Festival 2021, Royal Anthropological Institute, March 19
to 28, 2021.
• Okinami at EAJS2021, 16th International Conference of the European Association for
Japanese Studies, Ghent, Germany, August 25 to 28, 2021.
• Okinami at Ethnographic Film Festival, University of Bremen Department of
Anthropology and Cultural Research, Bremen, Germany, December 1 to 3, 2020.
• Okinami at Anthro–Film Laboratory, Japan, June 20, 2020.
• Official Selection: Okinami, Film Programme of the 16th EASA (European Association of Social
Anthropologists) Biennial Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, July 22, 2020.
• Okinami, at Cinema & Kurbelkiste Münster, Münster, Germany, January 29, 2020.
• Okinami at Okinami Shukaisho, Anamizu, Japan, August 4, 2019.
• Official Selection: (With Satoshi Murakami) Living Migration Busan – Kanazawa, IUAES (International
Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences) 2019 Inter–Congress “World
Solidarities,” Poznan, Poland, August 27 to 31, 2019.
• Altering Home, documentary film installation, 21st Century Musuem of Contemprary
Art, Kanazawa, Japan, September 15 to November 4, 2018.
• Shoveling Ishikawa, in connection with im/pulse: Vincent Moon, contact Gonzo, and
the Anthro–film Laboratory, Kyoto City University of Art Gallery @KCUA, Kyoto,
June 20, 2018.
• (With Ulara Tamura) Bozalan, Textile Society of America 11th
Biennial Symposium, Honolulu, Hawaii, September 24 to 27, 2008.
Publications
• Tamura, Can. 2021.“Suzu–yaki to kankaku minzoku–shi 珠洲焼と感覚民族誌 [Suzu–
ware and Sensory Ethnography]” in Tōsetsu 陶説 [Ceramics] No. 820, September.
• Tamura, Can. 2020. “The Ghost Scrolls of Manshu–in and Tokugen–in: A Shutter–
Stopping Tale of Visual Culture, Photo Curses, and Recontextualization.” Visual
Anthropology Review 36 (2): 343–360.
• Wells, John. 2023. “On Mimesis and Memory.” In Alex Da Corte: Fresh Hell, edited by Kurosawa Hiromi, Nonaka Yumiko, and Ito Masatoshi, 140–143. Tokyo: My Book Service.
•
Awards
• Honorable Mention, Okinami, London X4 Seasonal Short Film Festival, Autumn
2020.
• Bronze Award for Best Documentary Short, Trauma, Pinnacle Film Awards, 2018.
Filmography
Aenokoto (2023) | 36 min 5 sec | Color | 2K Video
Blue Abstraction Ballet (2023) | 4 min 48 sec | Color | HD Video
Song of the Land (2023) | 6 min | Color | 2K Video
Road to Shaamar (2023) | 8 min 50 sec | Color | HD Video
Tiles (2022) | 3 min 2 sec | Color | HD Video
Mitsukejima (2022) | 1 min 54 sec | Color | HD Video
Suzu (2021) | 41 min 40 sec | Color | 2K Video
The 24 Solar Terms of Echigo-Tsumari (2021) | 30 min | Color | 2K Video
2.5 Minutes in Kanaiwa (2021) | 4 min 23 sec | Color | HD Video
Homestay (2021) | 45 sec | Black and White | HD Video
Home Movie (2020) | 2 min 45 sec | Color | HD Video
Shoveler 3 (2020) | 8 min 14 sec | Color | HD Video
Shoveler 2 (2019) | 14 min 1 sec | Color | HD Video
Okinami (2019) | 24 min 1 sec | Color | HD Video
Smashed (2019) | 7 min 15 sec | Color | HD Video
Breaking Glass (2018) | 11 min 54 sec | Color | HD Video
Kamran’s Dream (2018) | 3 min 22 sec | Black and White | HD Video
Je Suis Snowed In (2018) | 10 min 59 sec | Color | HD Video
Shoveler (2018) | 16 min 35 sec | Color | HD Video
Chest (2017) | 3 min 50 sec | Black and White | HD Video
Piyaz-e Farsi (2017) | 6 min 41 sec | Color | HD Video
Trauma (2017) | 5 min 6 sec | Black and White | HD Video
The Supper Gaze (2017) | 6 min 7 sec | Color | HD Video
21st Century Abstraction (2016) | 7 min 03 sec | Color | HD Video
Concrete Grid (2016) | 1 min 25 sec | Color | HD Video
Omaedachi (2016) | 6 min 13 sec | Color | HD Video
Blue Abstraction (2014) | 10 min 18 sec | Color | HD Video
Antinuclear Tent (2013) | 10 min 5 sec | Color | HD Video
Bozalan (2008) | 38 min 33 sec | Color | SD Video (MiniDV)
Late Autumn 2 (2006) | 3 min 20 sec | Color | SD Video (MiniDV)
The Minotaur (1997) | 27 min 50 sec | Color | SD Video (MiniDV)
Miracle Garden (1995) | 7 min | Black and White | SD Video (Video8)
The Simple Life (1995) | 21 min 29 sec | Color | SD Video (Video8)
Late Autumn (1993) | 5 min 33 sec | Color | 16mm
Jason (1990) | 5 min 45 sec | Color | SD Video (VHS)
Killer Hand (1990) | 1 min 58 sec | Color | SD Video (VHS)
Number 9 (1990) | 5 min 20 sec | Color and Black and White | SD Video (VHS)
FIDK (1988) | 3 min 21 sec | Color and Black and White | 16mm
Cemetery (1988) | 2 min 29 sec | Black and White | 16mm