When an announcement is made that a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, of two World Press Photos of the Year, and of the Robert Capa Award for Courage is going to have an exhibition in Paris, the occasional traveler that I am, making to good use an encounter with a dear fellow photographer friend is intrigued and wants to go. So, here we are, rushing towards the Mairie du IIIème for the promised exhibit by David Turnley about “the soul of mankind”. Turnley has documented the human condition in more than 75 countries, and is considered to be one of the best Documentary Photographers working today. How deeply disappointed we were to only see 6 photographs hanging on the gates of the mairie. Great photos for sure, but doesn’t he deserve a better treatment? The pictures were mainly taken in Paris in the 1970’s and greatly inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Turnley speaks warmly of Cartier-Bresson’s “lyrical and rhythmic sensibility for movement and space”. He went all the way from Indiana to Paris to meet him and Martine Frank and eventually managed to knock at their apartment front door. This encounter changed his life forever. The few pictures presented gave a wonderful insight of his work and we would have loved to spend more time exploring it further. What a missed opportunity. Let’s hope David Turnley gets a fairer chance in the future.
