One of the high points of the spectacular exhibition called A view of the Other was a collection of 120 photographs, mostly unpublished, from the main ethnographic collections in France, and, notably, from the Quai Branly Museum’s stocks of photographs.
This collection of portraits and landscapes mostly dating from the 19th century shows how Westerners’ views of the ‘Other’ were modified through the process of taking ethnographic photographs. From now on, these documents are considered to be true works of art.
The album is structured so as to leave the field clear for the images, which are organised in the same way as the main parts of the exhibition (individuals, manufacturing reality, capturing space…) After that, come the ‘commentaries’, via articles by three experts who take turns at engaging with the status of these photographs and the history they are part of.
