"Where to begin? This is the problem faced by anyone wishing to tell the world story of photography." With this observation, Geoffrey Batchen opens the book Mondes photographiques, histoires des débuts, which accompanies the exhibition "An Early Album of the World, Photographs: 1842-1911". Two modes - exhibition and publication - for revisiting these trajectories of the medium outside Europe and exploring the diversity of uses and practices of photography in the 19th century in various parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.

The "Photo-World" symposium aims to extend the reflections of these plural histories by inviting researchers, historians, historians of photography and international curators to contribute to the debate on the possible interpretations of a history of the beginnings of decentralised and polyphonic photography.

Over two days, speakers will explore indigenous practices and local histories of photography, address the transcontinental circulation of images and albums, question the positioning of the "photographed" and their relationship to the medium, and highlight sources and objects that can be used to reconstruct photographic heritages and alternative narratives

Download the Photo-World symposium programme here