Ara Güler & Marc Riboud, histoire d'une amitié

The exhibition "History of a friendship between photographers, from East to West" offers an unprecedented encounter between the visions of Ara Güler and Marc Riboud, two major figures of 20th-century humanist photography.

Through a dialogue of archives, photographs, and previously unseen documents, this exhibition traces the history of an artistic and human relationship built over travels, correspondence, and a shared attentiveness to the world.

Born on two different cultural shores, Ara Güler and Marc Riboud nevertheless shared a deeply sensitive vision of photography: one turned towards human beings, cities, everyday gestures, and the transformations of contemporary societies.

Istanbul, Paris, Asia, the Middle East, and the major upheavals of the 20th century become, in their respective works, fragments of a common narrative where the image bears witness just as much as it brings people together.

The exhibition highlights how their trajectories intersect between East and West, in a permanent dialogue between memory, modernity, and the circulation of perspectives.

Vintage prints, personal archives, publications, correspondence, and rare documents reveal the bonds of friendship and mutual admiration that united the two photographers beyond geographical and cultural borders.

Through this photographic journey, the exhibition also questions the role of archives in constructing a shared memory. It shows how photography becomes a universal language capable of creating bridges between cultures, generations, and territories.

More than a tribute to two great names in photography, this exhibition celebrates a shared history of vision: an artistic friendship where the image becomes a space for dialogue between France and Turkey, between East and West.

A partnership between the Ara Güler Museum, the Musée Guimet, and the Institut Français.