In Turin, CAMERA - Centro Italiano per la Fotografia launches its new exhibition course with two exhibitions marking the beginning of François Hébel’s artistic direction. The summer program, on the calendar from June 18 to October 4, 2026, is structured around two distinct but complementary projects, both conceived as original exhibitions: the first retrospective in Italy dedicated to Harry Gruyaert entitled Retrospective, and an exhibition in the Project Room focusing on the work of Swiss graphic designer Werner Jeker.
The retrospective on Gruyaert represents a relevant step in the programming of the Turin institution, offering a reinterpretation of the work of one of the main protagonists of contemporary photography. Born in Belgium in 1941 and a member of Magnum Photos, Gruyaert has distinguished himself since the 1970s and 1980s for a use of color that departs from its descriptive function to take on a perceptive and emotional dimension. In a historical context in which photography continued to privilege black and white, his work stands in relation to the research of U.S. authors such as Saul Leiter and William Eggleston, contributing to the redefinition of photographic language.
The exhibition follows a chronological progression and opens with the TV Shots series, in which photography and early color television broadcasts enter into dialogue. The path continues by tracing the evolution of the author’s visual language, deeply marked by travel, which constitutes the core of his research. In the different geographical contexts traversed, each image is characterized by specific chromatic qualities, which contribute to the construction of a vision of the world based on the relationship between light, color and composition.
The investigation of color also traverses the technical transformations of the photographic medium, from the Kodachrome film and Cibachrome prints of the 20th century to the possibilities offered by digital in the 21st century. In this time frame, Gruyaert’s work takes the form of a constant exploration of color understood as a physical and sensory experience. Trained at the Brussels School of Film and Photography, the photographer moved to Paris in the early 1960s, where he came into contact with figures such as Peter Knapp and Robert Delpire. After an initial involvement in fashion and commercial photography, he identified travel as the focus of his practice, with Morocco as one of the central places defining his vision, understood as a space in which landscape and human presence are integrated into a unified perception.
“Color is more physical than black and white [...] with color one must be immediately struck by the different shades that express a situation,” the artist says.
In parallel, CAMERA’s Project Room hosts Photo Typo, an exhibition dedicated to Werner Jeker, a leading figure in the field of graphic design applied to photography. Born in Switzerland in 1944, Jeker is considered among the leading graphic designers of his generation in the field of poster art. His research is developed through a visual language in which photography and typography are integrated to the point of overcoming the communicative function, acquiring expressive autonomy.
The author of more than 800 posters, created mainly for cultural institutions, Jeker has collaborated with numerous international entities and photographers such as René Burri, Raymond Depardon and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The selection presented in the exhibition focuses particularly on posters that incorporate the photographic image as a structural element of the composition. His method is distinguished by a measured intervention in the image, which maintains its documentary dimension while amplifying its visual impact through interaction with text. Over the course of his career, Jeker has received several international awards, including the Infinity Award for innovative use of photography, while also complementing his design work with teaching at European institutions.
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| CAMERA presents summer exhibitions 2026: Gruyaert and Jeker open new season |
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