Two Stories That Begin Almost at the Same Time
The history of photography paradoxically begins with a relief object. In 1827, Nicéphore Niépce produced one of the first photographic images by coating a metal plate with bitumen of Judea. Two years earlier, in 1825, Louis Braille invented the writing system that would allow blind people to access reading and writing.
As a new visual medium develops and the photographic image gradually asserts itself in society, the INJA-Louis Braille also transforms over time, following medical, pedagogical, technical and social developments.
Bringing these two histories together raises essential questions: what can photography tell us about those who do not see? Why photograph blind and visually impaired people? What do the images of their era say about their prejudices, but also about the evolution of the way visual disability is viewed?
These are some of the subjects addressed in the exhibition "Des aveugles. La collection photographique de l'INJA".
From Institutional Photography to Everyday Images
Set in the former laundry of the INJA-Louis Braille, the exhibition, visible from 5 to 28 November 2026, offers a thematic journey through the institution's photographic archives.
The first images presented coincide with the rise of photographic studios under the Second Empire. Class photographs, portraits and institutional scenes then bear witness to an establishment that is part of the history of the care and education of young blind people.
The exhibition then presents vernacular photographs from the 1950s and 1960s: Christmas celebrations, end-of-year shows, costumes, moments of collective life... More spontaneous and joyful images that allow us to perceive the gradual evolution in the representation of blind people, far from solely institutional depictions.
The journey continues in the 1980s, when the author Hervé Guibert visited the INJA, both to nourish his work, which would be published a few years later, and to meet students whom he helped prepare for the baccalauréat over one school year.
Finally, the exhibition revisits the work of Jacques Bondon, who photographed the everyday life of blind people in the 1980s. His work, awarded the prestigious Niépce Prize, shows classrooms, celebrations, carers and various moments of life. It is his first exhibition of this series since 1981. This ensemble is complemented by an exceptional loan from the Musée Nicéphore Niépce.
A Closer Look at the Link Between Hervé Guibert and the INJA-Louis Braille
Hervé Guibert's connection with the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles goes beyond that of a writer who came to observe a place. In June 1983, he published an article in Le Monde devoted to the INJA-Louis Braille. In September 1983, Guibert became a reader for two students for one school year. One of the students was met in preparation for this exhibition). In parallel, he wrote the novel Des aveugles, a fiction published in 1985.
Through his experience as a reader, and then through his writing, Guibert does not merely represent blind people: he enters their daily lives and builds with them a relationship that transforms his own gaze. His work bears witness to an era in which the representation of visual disability can become a literary and intimate subject.
An Exhibition Part of the Bicentenary of Photography
The exhibition is part of the 2026-2027 programme for the Bicentenary of Photography, led by the Ministry of Culture, and within the framework of PhotoSaintGermain, a photography event that each year takes over the Left Bank of Paris with exhibitions presented in galleries and cultural institutions.
Following a first exhibition organised at the INJA-Louis Braille in 2025 with the artist Sixtine de Thé, this new project marks a further step in opening the institution and its collections to the public.
Through its archives, the INJA-Louis Braille thus tells its own story: that of its creation, its installation and then its move to Duroc, but also that of several generations of students and professionals who have kept the institution alive.
By bringing historical archives and more contemporary photographs into dialogue, the exhibition thus invites us to move beyond a purely medical or institutional vision of visual disability in order to explore its representation in culture and society.
Practical Information
"Des aveugles. La collection photographique de l'INJA" at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, 56 boulevard des Invalides, Paris.
From 5 to 28 November 2026. Opening, 5 November 2026, free.
With the support of the Fondation Antoine de Galbert.
About PhotoSaintGermain
PhotoSaintGermain is an annual, free festival dedicated to contemporary photographic creation, held each November in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris.
For its 15th edition (5 to 28 November 2026), it offers a free-form itinerary through several dozen emblematic venues – museums, galleries, bookshops and schools – echoing the Bicentenary of Photography.