“The Blind. The INJA photographic collection”

Two histories that begin at almost the same moment

The history of photography paradoxically begins with an object in relief. In 1827, Nicéphore Niépce created one of the first photographic images by covering a metal plate with bitumen of Judea. Two years earlier, in 1825, Louis Braille invented the script that would allow blind people to access reading and writing.

As a new visual medium developed and the photographic image gradually established itself in society, the INJA-Louis Braille also transformed at the rhythm of medical, pedagogical, technical, and social developments.

Bringing these two histories together allows for essential questions to be asked: what can photography tell us about those who do not see? Why photograph blind and visually impaired people? What do the images say about their era, their prejudices, and the evolution of the way visual impairment is viewed?

These are all subjects addressed during the exhibition "The Blind. The INJA photographic collection".

From institutional photography to everyday images

Installed in the former linen room of the INJA-Louis Braille, the exhibition, visible from November 5 to 28, 2026, offers a thematic path through the institution's photographic archives.

The first images presented coincide with the rise of photographic studios under the Second Empire. Class photos, portraits, and institutional scenes bear witness to an establishment that is part of the history of care and education for young blind people.

The exhibition then presents vernacular photographs from the 1950s and 1960s: Christmas parties, end-of-year shows, costumes, moments of collective life... More spontaneous and joyful images that allow us to perceive the gradual evolution of the representation of blind people, far from just institutional portrayals.

The journey continues into the 1980s, when the author Hervé Guibert visited the INJA, both to gather material for his work that would appear a few years later and to meet students he helped prepare for the baccalaureate during a school year.

Finally, the exhibition looks back at the work of Jacques Bondon, who photographed the daily lives of blind people in the 1980s. His work, awarded the prestigious Niépce Prize, shows classrooms, parties, caregivers, and various life moments. This is his first exhibition of this series since 1981. This collection is completed thanks to an exceptional loan from the Nicéphore Niépce Museum.

Focus on the bond between Hervé Guibert and the INJA-Louis Braille

Hervé Guibert's bond with the National Institute for Young Blind People goes beyond that of a writer who came to observe a place. In June 1983, he published an article in Le Monde dedicated to the INJA-Louis Braille. In September 1983, Guibert became a reader for two students for a school year. (One of the students was met to prepare this exhibition). In parallel, he wrote the novel Des aveugles, a work of fiction published in 1985.

Through his experience as a reader, then his writing, Guibert did not just represent blind people: he entered their daily lives and built a relationship with them that transformed his own perspective. His work bears witness to an era where the representation of visual impairment could become a literary and intimate subject.

An exhibition part of the Bicentenary of Photography

The exhibition is part of the 2026-2027 bicentenary of photography program, supported by the Ministry of Culture, and is part of PhotoSaintGermain, a photographic event that takes over the Parisian Left Bank every year through exhibitions presented in galleries and cultural institutions.

After a first exhibition organized at the INJA-Louis Braille in 2025 with artist Sixtine de Thé, this new project marks another step in opening the institution and its collections to the public.

Through its archives, the INJA-Louis Braille tells its own history: that of its creation, its installation, then its move to Duroc, but also that of several generations of students and professionals who brought the institution to life.

By creating a dialogue between historical archives and more contemporary photographs, the exhibition invites us to go beyond a purely medical or institutional vision of visual impairment to take an interest in its representation in culture and society.

Practical information

"The Blind. The INJA photographic collection" at the National Institute for Young Blind People, at 56 boulevard des invalides in Paris.

Free admission.

From November 5 to 28, 2026. Opening, November 5, 2026, free.

With the support of the Antoine de Galbert Foundation.

About PhotoSaintGermain

PhotoSaintGermain is a free annual festival dedicated to contemporary photographic creation, organized every November in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district in Paris.

For its 15th edition (from November 5 to 28, 2026), it offers a free path through several dozen iconic locations – museums, galleries, bookstores, and schools – in echo of the Bicentenary of photography.