Photographer Ara Güler’s exhibition, “Istanbul in My Memoirs,” has opened in Brussels as part of the Turkey-EU Intercultural Art Dialogues project, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Curator Beste Gürsu said Güler photographed stories that will not be forgotten for generations. “Ara Güler depicts the colorful life and socio-cultural aspects of this giant metropolis, which is always observed carefully because of its cultural richness, artistic, economic, and strategic importance - through his own perspective with shots that offer an insight into history. What is often ignored in photos taken by Ara Güler is the documentary-like and also surrealistic manner of expression of the uncertainty that he is always in search of,” Gursu said.

Ara Güler is a Turkish Armenian photojournalist, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul" or "the Photographer of Istanbul". He is considered one of Turkey's few internationally known photographers.

Güler was born in Istanbul on August 16, 1928, to ethnic Armenian parents. He studied at the local Getronagan Armenian High School. Owner of a pharmacy on Istiklal Avenue, his father had a wide circle of friends from the art world of the period. Ara Güler's early contact with this world inspired him to embark on a career in cinema. During his high school years, he jobbed in movie studios and attended drama courses held by Muhsin Ertuğrul, the founder of modern Turkish theater. However, he abandoned cinema in favor of journalism, joining the staff of the newspaper Yeni Istanbul as photojournalist in 1950 and studying Economics at the University of Istanbul at the same time.

Güler's work is collected by international institutions, such as the National Library of France in Paris; the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York; University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery; Museum Ludwig Köln, and Das imaginäre Photo-Museum, Köln.

Güler attaches the greatest importance to human presence in his photographs and describes himself as a "visual historian". He believes that photography should provide a memory of people, of their lives and especially their suffering. While he considers that art lies, he believes that photography can only reflect reality.