Luc Delahaye (b. 1962), is part of a generation of photographers who re-examined the relationship between documentary and artistic practice.
Delahaye has sought to confront the dislocations of the modern world. Through his mostly large-scale color works – documenting conflicts in Haiti, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine, as well as OPEC and COP conferences – he examines the turbulent world we inhabit and the forums that are supposed to bring order to chaos.
Whether captured in a single shot or assembled from fragments on a computer over several months, his photographs always bring us face to face with reality, experienced either immediately or after the fact. As Delahaye explains, he seeks to articulate this reality from a purely documentary stance, without demonstration – “to achieve unity with reality through a form of absence, a form of unconsciousness, even. A silent unity. Photography is something quite beautiful: it allows us to reconnect the self with the world.”
Spanning a quarter-century of photographic output, this retrospective brings together around 40 large-format works – some specially produced for the exhibition and shown for the first time – alongside a major installation that marks a departure from Delahaye’s previous practice. The exhibition is currently on display at Jeu de Paume in Paris. It will soon move to Photo Elysée for its first showing on Swiss soil.
Born in Tours, France, in 1962, Luc Delahaye settled in Paris in 1984 after several years spent moving from place to place and job to job. There, he produced his first reportages, traveled to the UK to document the miners’ strikes, and joined Moba Presse, a small agency for which he covered daily political and social news, as well as show business and human-interest stories.
He was hired by Sipa Press in 1985 after taking a series of paparazzi shots for that agency. He was subsequently dispatched to Beirut, where he had his first direct encounter with war. Numerous assignments covering armed conflict and international current affairs followed, taking Delahaye to places such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Rwanda, Chechnya, Iraq, Gaza and the West Bank, Haiti, Congo, Sudan and Somalia. In 1994, he joined Magnum Photos and signed with Newsweek. He was elected a full member of Magnum in 1998, remaining with the agency until 2004.
Delahaye’s accolades include the Robert Capa Gold Medal (1993 and 2002), first prize at the World Press Photo awards (1992, 1993 and 2002), the Paris Match Award (1992 and 1994), the Visa d’Or (1993) and the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for war correspondents (2002). Alongside his work as a photojournalist, he also completed several documentary projects, including some in book format, for which he won the Oskar Barnack Award (2000), the ICP Infinity Award (2001) and the Niépce Prize (2002).
In 2001, Delahaye brought his press work to an end and turned to producing photographic compositions. His first works in this new format were shown at New York’s Ricco/Maresca Gallery in 2003, the same year in which he released History (published by Chris Boot). Later exhibitions were held at La Maison Rouge (Paris, 2005) and the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, 2007). Delahaye was awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2005 and the Prix Pictet in 2012.
Some works presented in this exhibition may be disturbing or offensive to some viewers. Not recommended for children under 14.
The exhibition contains images that may be disturbing to some viewers. It notably includes scenes of violence and war.
Exhibition conceived and organized by the Jeu de Paume, Paris, in collaboration with Photo Elysée, Lausanne.
Curator
Quentin Bajac
Exhibition Manager
Julie Dayer
Scenographic Adaptation
Yannick Luthy
Graphic Design
Claude Roubaty
Exhibition conceived and organized by the Jeu de Paume, Paris, in collaboration with Photo Elysée, Lausanne.
The exhibition receives the generous support of the Federal Office of Culture.
