For more than forty years, Courtinat has photographed people who often fall outside society's attention or toward whom we tend to avert our gaze: children undergoing cancer treatment, people nearing the end of life, caregivers and medical workers, people living in homelessness and poverty, abandoned children, prisoners, and refugees.

"This exhibition is not only about those whom society tends not to notice. It is about all of us, because vulnerability is not an exception but part of being human," said curators Kristel Aimee Laur and Toomas Järvet. "All of us have needed someone's gaze, hand, or presence. Courtinat's photos place the question before us as well: do we notice, do we look away, or do we stay? He does not ask us to pity the people in the photographs from above, but invites us to recognize in them something of ourselves and of our shared humanity. In the end, there is no 'them' and 'us' — there is only us."

Jean‑Louis Courtinat received the prestigious Prix Niépce in 1991 and, in 2025, the Visa d'or des Solidarités award for his life's work at the Visa pour l'Image festival. He took part in the major national photography commission "Radioscopie de la France," organized by France's Ministry of Culture and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. His works are held in collections including the Centre Pompidou, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, and the Musée Réattu.

France's Ministry of Culture has selected the exhibition curated by the Documentary Photo Center for the official program marking the 200th anniversary of photography. It is also the only event in Estonia included in the international jubilee program.

The exhibition "It Concerns All of Us" will remain open at the Juhan Kuus Documentary Photo Center until 3 January.

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