Doha News spoke with two of the exhibition’s curators about how the late photographer’s work has deepened the cultural ties between Qatar and Türkiye.

The Museum of Islamic Art’s latest exhibition, ‘In the Footsteps of Ara Güler: Exploring the Photographer’s Legacy’, has opened its doors to the public.

The photography exhibition showcases 155 snapshots from the late Güler, affectionately known as ‘Istanbul’s eye’, throughout his career. Also on display are his correspondences as well as cameras and photographic equipment from his era, lent to the exhibition by the Ara Güler Archives and Research Center in Istanbul.

The pieces were curated by Sheikha Maryam Al Thani of Qatar Museums (QM) and the Ara Güler Museum team, which includes Tuana Pulak, the museum’s exhibitions and project development manager.

Sheikha Maryam told Doha News that the exhibition is part of the legacy of the 2015 Qatar – Turkiye Year of Culture.

“At QM, we always keep dialogue open with the the countries and their creative institutions to collaborate in the future,” she added.

Exhibit-goers will first be met by photographs of Güler’s favorite walkways in Istanbul in the ‘Eternal Tapestry’ section, which transitions into the ‘Echoes from the Past’ section. The latter offers a visual journey through the archaeological findings Güler discovered in the country that straddles both Asia and Europe.

“His passion for archaeology helped bring global recognition to several UNESCO sites in Türkiye,” Sheikha Maryam told Doha News.

For instance, Güler’s ‘Aphrodisias’ photoseries played a role in bringing international attention to the ancient city. He first stumbled upon the Southwestern Turkish city by chance in 1958 and was amazed by the abundance of Hellenistic relics he found. For instance, Pulak told Doha News that while lost on an original assignment, he spotted men playing cards on the head of an Ancient Greek column.

Later in 2017, the archaeological site of Aphrodisias was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List at the 41st World Heritage Committee session held in Kraków, Poland.

“This exhibition will inspire visitors by showcasing how he captured the essence of Istanbul, his hometown, and Türkiye, his country, along with portraits of notable individuals throughout his life,” Sheikha Maryam told Doha News.

The ‘In Good Company’ section of the showcase features portraits of the leading writers, artists, politicians, philosophers and film stars of his day that he befriended. In his signature black and white style, this includes archival pigment prints of Italian film star Sophia Loren, American civil rights activist James Baldwin and English film director Alfred Hitchcock, among others.

Sheikha Maryam also told Doha News that QM’s collection includes at least 300,000 photographic objects from Güler’s era.

“This has created a beautiful dialogue between the two collections,” Pulak said to Doha News. “And we created this cultural dialogue through art – which I believe is the most important”.

She added that the Ara Güler Museum team was especially excited to host the region’s first exhibition dedicated to the late photographer’s work.

The exhibition ends with a screening of his experimentations using film.

His 1975 ‘Kahramanin Sonu’, or ‘A Hero’s End’ is a tribute to the Turkish warship Yavuz Sultan Selim. It was directed and scripted by Güler and took him ten years to produce.

The ship was decommissioned in the 1950s and later dismantled and recycled into razor blades in the 70s. Güler represented the sound of the ship’s cries upon dismantling with symbolic music.

Ara Güler died in October 2018 aged 90.