The opening of the photo exhibition “More than the humanitarian gaze. Jørgen Grinde’s photographs from the Middle East in the 1950s” took place on Thursday 26 January from 15:30 at the University of Bergen (UiB) Library.

The exhibition showcases a selection of Grinde’s (1915-1991) photographs of Palestinian refugees in the 1950s, taken from the UN collection belonging to the Image Collection at the UiB Library.

The exhibition was open from 26 January to 15 May 2023.

Exhibition opening program

• Welcome by Maria-Carme Torras Calvo, Department Director at the University Library.
• Opening speech by Margareth Hagen, rector at the University of Bergen.
• Tour of the exhibition by two of the curators, historian Kjersti G. Berg and photo archivist Olaf Knarvik.

Everyone is welcome to visit the exhibition, and tours can be arranged with the curators. The exhibition is also available digitally.

About the exhibition

Grinde’s photographs offer a unique entry into both photographic history and Palestinian history. The collection helps to humanise and nuance our ideas about refugees even today, at a time when refugees are a sensitive and polarising topic in many countries. You can find out more about the origins and curation of the exhibition here (in Norwegian).

The exhibition, online exhibition and accompanying catalogue are the result of a collaboration between the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the University Library in Bergen, and is supported by Fritt Ord, the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies and the NFR-funded research project SuperCamp: Genealogies of Humanitarian Containment in the Middle East (CMI).