The Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris has unveiled two significant photography exhibitions that examine memory, visual experimentation, and the evolving language of contemporary image-making. Bringing together works by Japanese photography pioneer Daido Moriyama and Ivorian multidisciplinary artist Nuits Balnéaires, the dual presentation offers distinct yet complementary perspectives on the power of photography as both document and personal expression.
On view through October 4, 2026, the exhibitions position the Paris institution as a key platform for exploring the medium’s historical legacy and contemporary transformations.
Daido Moriyama Explores a Lifelong Dialogue With Photography
Titled Love Letters to Photography, the exhibition dedicated to Daido Moriyama traces the artist’s enduring fascination with the photographic medium itself. Drawing from the Moriyama Foundation archives, the presentation brings together 60 prints alongside publications, documents, and archival materials that illuminate his decades-long practice.
The exhibition places particular emphasis on Moriyama’s groundbreaking project Farewell Photography (1972), which challenged established notions of photographic quality through blurred, grainy, and often abstract imagery. Rather than adhering to traditional standards of clarity and composition, Moriyama embraced imperfection as a means of expanding the possibilities of photographic expression.
Additionally, the exhibition examines his recurring engagement with the legacy of Nicéphore Niépce, including repeated visits to sites associated with the inventor of photography. His reinterpretations of Niépce’s historic View from the Window at Le Gras reveal a sustained investigation into photography’s origins and evolving meaning.
Among the highlights is Moriyama’s iconic 1971 image of a stray dog, widely regarded as one of the most influential photographs in postwar Japanese photography. Presented as both a symbolic self-portrait and an embodiment of his instinctive artistic approach, the image underscores the exhibition’s exploration of photography as a personal and emotional language.
Throughout the galleries, recurring motifs including cameras, film rolls, shadows, reflections, and sunflowers further reinforce Moriyama’s ongoing dialogue with the medium.
Nuits Balnéaires Debuts First French Solo Exhibition
Running concurrently, Eboro marks the first monographic exhibition in France by Nuits Balnéaires. Developed through the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès’ Latitudes programme, the exhibition introduces a deeply personal body of work that expands the artist’s exploration of photography, fashion, poetry, and cultural history.
Curated by David Campany, the exhibition centers on the unresolved death of the artist’s uncle, Noël X. Ebony, a journalist and playwright who died in Dakar in 1986. Consequently, Eboro unfolds as a series of interconnected visual narratives shaped by family memory, place, and collective history.
Water emerges as a central visual and conceptual motif throughout the exhibition. Drawing on the artist’s connection to Grand-Bassam and the Gulf of Guinea, the works explore themes of life, loss, and communication across physical and spiritual boundaries.
Furthermore, a companion publication titled Eboro extends the exhibition through poems by Noël X. Ebony and an interview with Campany, providing additional context for the project’s layered narrative framework.
Together, Love Letters to Photography and Eboro demonstrate photography’s capacity to function simultaneously as archive, experiment, and personal testimony. While Moriyama reflects on the medium’s material and conceptual foundations, Nuits Balnéaires expands its possibilities through autobiography, memory, and cultural storytelling, creating one of Paris’s most compelling photography presentations of 2026.