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“Bîranîn” (“Memory”) exhibition: Kurdistan through the eyes of Nesali journalists. Photos, documentaries & behind-the-scenes fieldwork. Market on Sept. 5.
The Bîranîn exhibition project (“Memory” in Kurdish) is a photography and documentary exhibition conceived by Alice Moritz and Nesrine Cherifati, journalists and founders of the independent media outlet Nesali. The result of three months of reporting in northern Kurdistan (Bakur in Kurdish, located in southeastern Turkey), the exhibition accompanies a series of documentaries and articles about the Kurdish question published online. It brings together memories from a journey and offers a complementary perspective on the finished works by revealing what happens behind the scenes of journalistic fieldwork: the encounters, travel, observations, conversations, everyday moments, and human connections that make reporting possible, while placing these experiences within the region’s complex sociopolitical reality. The installation is organized around a map of Kurdistan tracing our route. Each stage of the journey is linked to a selection of photographs depicting the places we visited, the people we met, and the topics we explored. These images are presented in dialogue with the documentaries produced in the field, offering visitors a journey connecting places, stories, and memories. They capture moments of life that may seem ordinary to those experiencing them, but which shaped our understanding of the region. By sharing them, we invite visitors to explore these fragments of memory and discover the stories they carry. These images are presented in dialogue with the documentaries produced in the field, which can be viewed via a QR code, offering visitors an interactive journey connecting the reports with memories from the field. The exhibition offers an immersive look at contemporary Kurdistan through the eyes of two field journalists, with maps, photography, and documentary filmmaking composing a sensitive record of the journey, the encounters, and the realities experienced. Statement of intent This exhibition began with a simple observation: when a report is published, a large part of the story disappears. For three months, we traveled through northern Kurdistan to produce a series of documentaries about the Kurdish question, covering political and social struggles, changes across the region, cultural practices, and the memories that run through it. From the city of Van, located around one hundred kilometers from the Iranian border, we also worked on several stories related to Iran, particularly the regime’s repression and its impact on younger generations. Behind every film lie hundreds of hours spent in the field and kilometers traveled, as well as invitations to share tea, nights spent in people’s homes, weddings, spontaneous conversations, and moments of waiting that never appear in the finished works. This invisible material both sustains and enables journalistic work, and it is what we want to highlight through this exhibition. Bîranîn, which means “Memory” in Kurdish, grew from this desire to preserve traces of those moments. Each photograph captures a moment that may be ordinary to those living it, but which became precious along our own journey. These images bear witness to what develops between two interviews, around a bend in the road, over a meal, or during a simple conversation: a relationship, an emotion, a deeper understanding of a place. The photographs presented here are therefore traces of our documentaries. They reveal what video editing leaves out: the encounters that open the doors to a region, the relationships built through conversations, the suspended moments between two reports, and the human dimension of field journalism. Through Bîranîn, we share these fragments of memory with visitors. Each image opens the door to a broader story that can be explored further through the documentaries and reports associated with our route. The photographs thus become the entry point to a wider narrative in which journalism, memory, and place complement one another. Kurdish creators’ market - Meet Kurdish creators at stalls featuring clothing, embroidery, paintings, and crafts, alongside cultural transmission initiatives. An opportunity to discover traditional skills, talk with creators, and explore the exhibition’s themes further. Date Saturday, September 5, 2026 Hours 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission Free How to get here Maison de la Conversation 10-12 rue Maurice Grimaud, 75018 Paris Public transportation recommended Metro: lines 4 (Porte de Clignancourt) or 13 (Porte de Saint-Ouen) Tram: T3B, Angélique Compoint – Porte de Montmartre stop Bus: lines 60 and 95, René Binet stop Instagram: @iciconversation Website: maisondelaconversation.org
Source: paris.fr — photo: Maison de la Conversation