The ‘Two Archives, One Selection: Tracing Ara Güler’s Footsteps in Istanbul’ exhibition, on display at the Istanbul Modern Photography Gallery, is the result of a collaboration between Istanbul Modern and the Ara Güler Museum. Consisting of items from the collections and archives of both institutions, it sets out to document the changes that have taken place in Istanbul since the middle of the 20th century, and to draw attention to the role played by Ara Güler’s photographs in the formation of the collective memory of the city’s inhabitants with regard to these changes.

Cities are places where the collective memory is shaped, and where it is constantly updated. Photographic records perform an important function as facilitators of this process, ensuring that this updating is continuous. By reason of the fact that photographs have an impact on the collective memory, they also play a role in the formation of the city’s identity. Ara Güler’s photographs of Istanbul have exerted a strong influence on the image of the city that we collectively hold in our minds, and on the way our recollections of it are built up. The ‘Two Archives, One Selection’ exhibition brings together some photographs by Ara Güler – photographs that invite the viewer to examine them over and over again – and materials from the two archives. Its aim is to showcase the practical techniques employed by Ara Güler in the creation of his work, and at the same time to remind us, once again, of his role in the creation of the ‘Istanbul consciousness’ that we hold in common.

On view at the exhibition are samples of Ara Güler’s work, each one bearing his signature, that were printed at various times; items include photographs from the Istanbul Modern collection plus darkroom prints, ephemera and miscellaneous objects from the Ara Güler Museum collection. In presenting these examples of the work of Ara Güler, who described himself as a ‘photo-journalist’, and photo-journalists as ‘people who write history with their cameras’, the exhibition aims to provoke thought on the matter of the relationship between the photographer’s subjective stance and the photograph itself.