Democratizing the Gaze: How PhotoQuai Redefined Global Photography in Paris

On a crisp September morning in 2007, Parisians crossing the Passerelle Debilly footbridge encountered something unusual along the Seine's embankment: large-format photographs from Mongolia, Ethiopia, Iran, and Mexico installed in elegant open-air displays. These striking images, free to view at any hour, marked the quiet revolution of PhotoQuai—a biennial that would transform how European audiences engaged with global photography for nearly a decade.

"The goal was radical in its simplicity," recalls Anahita Ghabaian Etehadieh, the Iranian curator who founded PhotoQuai. "We wanted to show Europeans how non-Europeans see their own worlds, without the filter of Western photojournalism." This mission—giving platform to "the Elsewhere seen from Elsewhere"—distinguished PhotoQuai from conventional photography festivals that often reinforced colonial perspectives by presenting non-Western subjects through Western lenses.

What truly set PhotoQuai apart was its democratic presentation. While most prestigious photography exhibitions remained sequestered in elite galleries with admission fees and limited hours, PhotoQuai's primary venue was the Seine riverbank itself—accessible 24 hours a day, free of charge, to anyone wandering Paris. This open-air approach transformed the visual relationship between viewer, art, and environment. Photographs from Indonesia might be viewed against a backdrop of morning mist rising from the Seine; portraits from Peru could be contemplated at sunset as the Eiffel Tower illuminated behind them.

"We were constantly challenging institutional boundaries," explains Frank Kalero, artistic director of the 2015 edition. "Photography is often fetishized in white cube galleries, separated from life. We wanted to return it to the public sphere, let it breathe in the city." This accessibility attracted diverse audiences who might never enter traditional art spaces. Tourist families, evening commuters, students, and retirees all engaged with works that might otherwise remain unseen by the general public.

The installation itself required technical innovation. The specially designed modular structures protected photographs from weather while creating an engaging viewing experience that complemented the riverbank setting. These structures became as much a part of PhotoQuai's identity as the photographs themselves—an elegant solution to the practical challenges of outdoor exhibition that enhanced rather than distracted from the art.

Behind the scenes, PhotoQuai pioneered a curatorial model that challenged the Eurocentric approaches dominating the art world. Rather than relying on Western curators to select works, each edition assembled a team of regional experts who brought specialized knowledge of photographic practices in their areas. The 2015 edition, for example, featured dedicated curators for Latin America, the Russian Federation, Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

"This decentralized approach avoided the trap of exoticization," notes photography historian Françoise Docquiert. "The biennial wasn't showing 'exotic others' but rather enabling photographers to represent their own communities through their own aesthetic and cultural frameworks." This approach yielded discoveries that might otherwise have been overlooked by Western curators, introducing European audiences to important figures like Daesung Lee (South Korea), whose work on climate refugees later gained international recognition, and Gohar Dashti (Iran), now exhibited in major museums worldwide.

The biennial's impact extended beyond its temporary exhibitions. Each edition was accompanied by symposiums, educational workshops, and publications that deepened engagement with the featured photographers and their contexts. Many photographers first introduced through PhotoQuai later secured gallery representation in Europe and inclusion in major museum collections. The Musée du Quai Branly itself acquired works from the biennial for its permanent collection, ensuring their preservation in one of France's most important cultural institutions.

When PhotoQuai held its final edition in 2015, it had transformed the European photography landscape. Other festivals increasingly adopted more diverse curatorial perspectives, and institutions began actively collecting non-Western photography. Yet the biennial's abrupt discontinuation in 2016—attributed to budget constraints and shifting institutional priorities—left a notable void in Paris's cultural calendar.

"PhotoQuai was ahead of its time in addressing representation and accessibility," reflects photography curator Michket Krifa. "Today's conversations about decolonizing the museum were already embedded in its approach a decade ago." The biennial's legacy lives on in the careers it launched, the curatorial practices it pioneered, and in the memories of thousands who encountered extraordinary photography in an ordinary urban space—democratizing not just who could see the art, but whose vision of the world was deemed worthy of being seen.