Until September 28, 2025, the European House of Photography (MEP) is dedicating the first major retrospective to Marie-Laure de Decker, a major and unclassifiable figure in photojournalism.  

Marie-Laure de Decker's credo could be summarized as follows: to look at the world directly, with a tender and fearless acuity. Her work has become a landmark in the history of photojournalism, straddling the line between war and peace, between the personal and the political. Through this unprecedented retrospective, the MEP celebrates not only a war photographer, but a conscience.

Born in 1947 and passing away in 2023, Marie-Laure de Decker made photography an act of commitment. In the 1970s, she chose to roam the battlefields with only her Leica as her weapon. In a largely male-dominated world, she boldly forged her own path, refusing to depict raw violence in favor of faces, gestures, and silences. Where others sought impact, she captured the subtle nuances.

From her reports on Vietnam, Chad, and South Africa emerge unadorned images, brimming with humanity. She photographs Chadian fighters with poignant restraint, revealing both their weariness and dignity. Her portraits of Yemeni activists showcase inner strength without artifice or staging. Her photography is never confrontational. It questions more than it denounces.

The MEP highlights this unique approach, often overlooked in official narratives. For the story of Marie-Laure de Decker is also that of a woman who had to fight for her place in a world where female reporters were the exception. She paved the way, broke the rules, leaving an indelible mark on photojournalism through her courage, integrity, and vision. 

Her work is not limited to war. From the 1980s onward, she explored other territories: fashion, cinema, and the arts. She photographed figures such as Marcel Duchamp, Françoise Sagan, and Catherine Deneuve, always with this desire to capture essence rather than appearance. Even in her portraits of political figures—Mandela, Mitterrand, Giscard—she rejected the static icon, preferring the human gesture, the subtle gaze.

Marie-Laure de Decker's signature style, free from any school of thought, extends a French tradition reminiscent of Cartier-Bresson while simultaneously transcending it. A photographer who acts as a conduit, she offers us images as one might extend a hand, with gentleness and gravity.

This retrospective is both an acknowledgment and a reminder. It teaches us that images can endure, that looking can become an act. In an era saturated with instant content, Marie-Laure de Decker invites us to slow down, to read faces as stories, to understand war through those who live it, not those who wage it. 

By rehabilitating the work of Marie-Laure de Decker in a major retrospective, the MEP (Maison Européenne de la Photographie) is doing justice to a pioneer. It places her alongside Gerda Taro and Lee Miller in the pantheon of great war photographers. But above all, it reminds us of this: a woman, armed with a camera and fierce conviction, can challenge dominant narratives and write history differently. 

“Marie-Laure de Decker – Image as Commitment”
European House of Photography (MEP)
5/7, rue de Fourcy, Paris 4^e 
Until September 28, 2025

mep-fr.org