Photo : John Gutmann, Haussement d’épaules, 1935 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents, Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
The Space Between Us
A single photograph is often the result of a silent pact struck between the photographer and their subject. This curated showcase reveals the raw, human friction captured in portraits from the 1920s to today. If you have ever wondered about the tension hidden behind a lens, this exhibition offers a truly thought-provoking experience.
Le BAL (Paris 18th)
About
Running from June 19, 2026, to January 3, 2027, L'Espace entre nous at Le BAL examines the complex connection formed between photographers and their subjects. Through a curation spanning from the 1920s to the present day, the exhibition highlights the silent pact, complicity, and tension captured in iconic and lesser-known portraits by artists such as Bill Brandt, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Mapplethorpe. This insightful journey into photographic relationships is fully wheelchair accessible. Tickets are available ranging from 0 to 10 euros.
Fleeting encounter, premeditated encounter: from spontaneous snapshots to collaborative staging, the exhibition explores the relationship formed, at the moment of the shot, between the photographer and their subject. What does the image reveal about the respective positions of these two bodies? About their complicity, their face-to-face, the silent pact sealed by the gaze of one upon the appearance of the other?
The exhibition highlights iconic works and others less known, from the 1920s to the present day, in a sensitive journey that favors echoes, affinities, and contaminations between images.
"Always, at the center of every photo, is this little struggle of consciousness between the one who reveals and the one who is unveiled, for which the photographic portrait has always been the privileged stage."
– Bertrand Schefer
With:
Lola Álvarez Bravo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Bill Brandt, Josef Breitenbach, Horace Bristol, Esther Bubley, Elinor Carucci, Mark Cohen, John Coplans, Gregory Crewdson, Imogen Cunningham, Bruce Davidson, Rineke Dijkstra, Walker Evans, Leonard Freed, Lee Friedlander, David Goldblatt, John Gutmann, Birney Imes, Graciela Iturbide, Sarah Jones, André Kertész, Chris Killip, Dorothea Lange, Sergio Larraín, Richard Learoyd, Danny Lyon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Roger Mayne, Susan Meiselas, Tina Modotti, Daidō Moriyama, Nicholas Nixon, Alexander Rodchenko, August Sander, Tomoko Sawada, Chris Shaw, Aaron Siskind, Graham Smith, Louis Stettner, Issei Suda, Yutaka Takanashi, Shoji Ueda, Weegee, Francesca Woodman.
Our take on this event
Le BAL presents an exhibition dedicated to the unique rapport established during a portrait session. It explores the dynamics between the photographer and the subject, analyzing whether the encounter is spontaneous or carefully staged. The exhibition design highlights artistic affinities and visual connections, creating a sensitive dialogue between works produced over the last century.
Featured artists include a diverse range of photographers such as Imogen Cunningham, Walker Evans, Graciela Iturbide, and Shoji Ueda. Together, they illustrate the shifting power and consciousness between those who reveal and those who are unveiled, turning the photographic act into a psychological performance. As Bertrand Schefer suggests, the portrait serves as the primary stage for this delicate interaction.
The exhibition is hosted at Le BAL, 6, impasse de la Défense, 75018 Paris, and is accessible to wheelchair users. It is open to the public from June 19, 2026, to January 3, 2027. Admission prices are set between 0 and 10 euros.
