Retrospective Honors Pioneering War Photographer Marie-Laure de Decker
French photographer and acclaimed photojournalist Marie-Laure de Decker (1947-2023) made a name for herself documenting numerous armed conflicts, social and political upheavals, and historic portraits. Her work and legacy will be honored in a new retrospective.
In 2023, PetaPixel reported on the sad news of the passing of Marie-Laure de Decker. The striking photographer was born in the then-French Colony Algeria in 1947 and quickly gained notoriety in her 20s as a model before deciding to be behind the camera rather than in front. With years of experience as a model, she directed and captured beautiful portraits of noted French figures. However she was drawn to a greater purpose and endeavored to document the Vietnam War, despite the risks.
De Decker was plagued with self-doubt which she mentions in her 1985 memoir, both due to inexperience and her aging Leica camera.
“I said to myself: people are going to see that I’m not a real photographer,” De Decker wrote.
There was no need for anxiety however, as her work in Saigon with Newsweek marked her a rising star in the photojournalism industry. Not only did she prove her skill to herself but also to the world as after Vietnam she went to Chad then Yemen and South Africa, India, and Chile, de Decker was driven to create and dared to enter even the most dangerous war-torn areas.
De Decker’s career was prolific, over 40 years, yet still she was plagued by the challenges that come with being a woman photographer and how she overcame them.
“If you’re a woman, you’re never taken seriously,” de Decker explained. “There is an advantage to being a woman, as was the case in South Africa — they don’t kill you right away, they give you a chance.”
Now, in the years since her passing, Marie-Laure de Decker’s son Pablo Saavedra de Decker has taken up the banner to champion her work, maintaining her social media accounts and organizing the upcoming retrospective of her iconic and historic imagery.
“I feel so immensely proud to show you my mother’s work,” he writes. “Five years of archiving, classifying, scanning, meetings etc. Hopes, deceptions and finally results.”
The exhibition, to be held at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in the heart of Paris shows some of her most memorable photographs, carefully and lovingly curated by her son and the esteemed museum staff.
“Marie-Laure de Decker has traveled through the history of the second half of the twentieth century with her camera, capturing the major upheavals of her era as she met people and made commitments. She made her mark in a largely male-dominated environment, where working as a photographer was — and still is — a real life choice, driven by passion, adrenaline, risks and renunciations. At a time when few women dared to enter this field, she did so with fierce determination and extraordinary courage,” MEP said.
“From the 1970s onwards, she stood out for her unique approach to photojournalism. Her reports, covering major conflicts such as the Vietnam War, apartheid in South Africa and the Chilean dictatorship, are characterized by a profound humanity. Rather than seeking the shock image, she prefers to capture the dignity of individuals, exploring the off-field of war. Her photographs do not show violence head-on, but show it in a different way — through the faces and stories of those who live through it, as illustrated by her poignant series on Chadian combatants and her portraits of Yemeni women activists.”
Despite every inherent challenge, Marie-Laure de Decker went on to create a breadth of photography, from armed conflicts to powerful portraits, that will stand in history marking her place, with this first retrospective opening on June 4 once again bringing her legendary work to the public eye.
“By rehabilitating her work, the MEP is paying tribute to her by highlighting her vision and approach, which are capable of bringing together history and intimacy, and which have a particular resonance today,” MEP writes.
Image credits: Marie-Laure de Decker
