The opening of the photo exhibition “More than the humanitarian gaze. Jørgen Grinde’s photographs from the Middle East in the 1950s” will take place on Thursday 26 January from 15:30 at the University of Bergen (UiB) Library (Haakon Shetlings plass 7, Bergen).
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 opens on 26 January 2023 and will run until 15 May 2023.
The exhibition has been curated by Kjersti G. Berg (Chr. Michelsen Institute, CMI), Olaf Knarvik (UiB) and Synnøve Marie Vik (UiB), with digital exhibition by Tarje Sælen Lavik.
Syrian finger food and a welcome drink will be served from 15:30 to 16:00. Everyone is welcome to visit the exhibition, and tours can be arranged with the curators. The exhibition is also available digitally.
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 is also available online here and the catalogue can be downloaded here. The catalogue includes short commentary on the historical and political background of the Palestinian refugee crisis and the UN’s humanitarian work in the Middle East.
The exhibition, online exhibition and accompanying catalogue are the result of a collaboration between the Chr. Michelsen Institute 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).
