‘Aphrodisias - Ara Güler’ is the first exhibition to be mounted in Ankara by the Ara Güler Museum. Hosted by the Erimtan Archaeology and Arts Museum, and with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye and Volkswagen Passenger Cars as its main sponsors, it consists for the most part of photographs of the village of Geyre and the ruins next to it that were taken by Ara Güler at various times. He discovered the ancient city of Aphrodisias by accident during a trip to Geyre in 1958, and revisited it at every opportunity until the early 1990s. Geyre and its surroundings have now been officially recognised by the Turkish government as an archaeological site, and have been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Also on display at the exhibition are darkroom prints, copies of international periodicals containing accounts of Ara Güler’s discovery of Aphrodisias and his photographs of it, his correspondence with agencies, his cameras and various mementos of the preparation of his book Aphrodisias Çığlığı (‘Call of Aphrodisias’) – plus his notes, some ephemera, and a mock-up of the book.