Regarder–écrire, écrire–regarder

Words, like images, occupy a central place in John Berger's work, from his reflections on how we look at, read, and consume images to his essays and his literary and theatrical works.

Particularly significantly, the interplay between text and image unfolds in his collaboration with photographer Jean Mohr, whose archive is held in the Photo Elysée collection. Spanning several decades, this collaboration resulted in the publication of three co-authored books, now considered important references: A Fortunate Man (1967), A Seventh Man (1975), and Another Way of Telling (1982).

Looking-Writing takes A Seventh Man as its starting point – an investigation devoted to migrant workers in Europe in the 1970s, structured in three chapters that trace, through text and image, departure, work, and return. In an introductory note to the reader, John Berger writes: "This book consists of images and words. Both should be read according to their own logic. […] The images weave an argument: an argument equal and comparable to, but different from, that of the text." On the occasion of the centenary of John Berger's birth, Théâtre de Vidy and Photo Elysée are joining forces for an off-site exhibition presented at Théâtre de Vidy. Bringing the works of John Berger and photographer Jean Mohr into dialogue, this exhibition revisits a major collaboration and explores the close ties between photography, writing, and looking.

Drawing on sequences of Jean Mohr's photographs as they appear in the book and putting them in dialogue with John Berger's ideas on text and image, the exhibition examines the respective roles of words and images and how they interact.

Through their collaboration, John Berger and Jean Mohr forged a new and singular form of storytelling. Today, the book remains an experimental space in which photographers continue to combine text and image to question and make visible the issues of our time. The exhibition presents a representative selection of such works which, in the tradition of John Berger and Jean Mohr, are deeply engaged: the artists address issues such as the ethics of war, protest, and the excesses of a so-called "post-truth" society.

This exhibition is presented at Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne and produced by Photo Elysée as part of the John Berger centenary.

John Berger (1926–2017) would have turned 100 on November 5, 2026. A British novelist, critic, painter, translator, and philosopher, he was above all a great storyteller.

Over his lifetime, the writer published more than thirty books. Among them are the novel G., winner of the Booker Prize, and the bestseller Ways of Seeing, originally conceived as a BBC series. Alongside his writing and filmmaking, he was also known for drawing, stage performances, public readings, and numerous artistic collaborations.

• Maxime Brygo (FR, 1984)
• Adam Broomberg (ZA, 1970) & Oliver Chanarin (GB, 1971)
• LaToya Ruby Frazier (US, 1982)
• Katerina Angelopoulou (GR, 1982)
• Paolo Woods (NL & CA, 1970) & Arnaud Robert (CH, 1976)
• Laia Abril (ES, 1986)
• Weronika Gęsicka (PL, 1984)
• Carmen Winant (US, 1983)