Tibesti, Chad, 1976-1978

In a male-dominated field, Marie-Laure de Decker stood out as one of the few to make her mark in photojournalism, portraiture, and war photography. Her powerful images and her commitment to activism and humanism left a lasting impression on the world of journalism.

She began her career as a model in Paris from 1965 to 1967, then traveled to Asia from 1972 to 1973 to build a portfolio for Agence Gamma. She traveled for several months through India, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Singapore, and arrived in Vietnam in the spring of 1971, in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Upon returning to France, she began working for Agence Gamma.

Accompanied by her Leica camera, she covered numerous conflicts and crisis zones around the world, including the civil war in Vietnam, the civil war in Chad, the civil wars in South and North Yemen (1973), industrial pollution in Japan (1973), Chile under military dictatorship (1974 and 1983), Mozambique (1979), the USSR (1980–1981), the drought in Mali (1984), apartheid in South Africa (1985 and 1994), China (1985), and finally Bosnia (1993). De Decker never portrayed war through blood, sickness, or nudity, but rather by photographing the people who were both creating and experiencing it.

She directed two short films, *Việt Nam* (1995) and *Maldita Primavera*, about the 10th anniversary of Allende’s death, as well as a full-length feature documentary, *Un voyage chez les Wodaabés* (*Journey to the Wodaabe*, 2004).

By the end of the 1980s, she shifted her focus to fashion and still photography, working for *Vogue*. She documented the film sets and production of *Under the Sun of Satan* (1987) and *Van Gogh* (1991) by Maurice Pialat, *Indochine* (1992) by Régis Wargnier, and *Farewell, Home Sweet Home* (1999) by Otar Iosseliani.

She photographed many figures she admired, including Marcel Duchamp, Roland Topor, Jacques Prévert, Orson Welles, Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Sagan, Man Ray, Gilles Deleuze, and Jorge Luis Borges. 

In 1995, she settled in Tarn (southern France), where she photographed landscapes and rural daily life. Alongside her documentary work, she also documented the Wodaabe people, a cattle-herding community from southwestern Chad. This country remained of particular importance to her since her involvement in the liberation of Françoise Claustre, who was kidnapped in the Tibesti region in 1974 and freed 33 months later.

In 2001, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie organized her first major exhibition, *Vivre pour voir*, which established her as a leading figure in French photography. In 2006, the international photojournalism festival *Visa pour image* paid tribute to her career. She was awarded the Prix International Planète Albert Kahn in 2012.

A retrospective dedicated to her is on view at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris through September 28, 2025.