Dominique Darbois (5 April 1925 – 6 September 2014) was a French

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and author, noted for her

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

studies of diverse locales, artifacts, children, and colonized peoples. Darbois was born in Paris and during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

was active in the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

. She was imprisoned for two years in the Cité de Muette housing estate in

Drancy Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. History Toponymy The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...

near Paris, which had become an internment camp. On liberation in 1944 she received the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for her work with the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. In 1946 Darbois began photographing professionally, beginning with journalism work in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

. From 1949 to the end of her life, she worked throughout the world, including Laos, Indonesia, USSR, Australia, Mexico, Guatemala, Algeria, Iran, and the Congo. In 1952, she received the “Prix Exploration” from the President of the French Republic. In the course of her many voyages, Darbois often declared herself annoyed with "le colonialisme européen," and has involved herself with "anti-colonialist struggles" in Indochina, Algeria and in Cuba. During the Algerian period, she involved herself with the network of Réseau Jeanson. From 1952 through 1978, she completed 20 books for the collection Les Enfants du Monde hildren of the World with the publishing group Fernand Nathan in Paris. These books are typically oversize quarto volumes featuring candid black-and-white photographs of children from various cultures and nationalities, often naked or scantily attired. Titles include "Agossou, le petit Africain" ("Agossou, the little African", published in English as "Agossou, a Boy of Africa" and "Agossou: His Life in Africa"); "Parana, le petit Indien", "Faouzi: Boy of Egypt," "Natacha, Girl of Russia," and "Nick in Tahiti." Beyond the juvenile market, she has published books about Amazon Indians, African sculpture, Chinese landscape painting, Egyptian art and Oriental carpets. In the late 1960s she did a number of publications of her work on Afghanistan art, including L’Afghanistan et son art (Editions Cercle d’Art, Paris, 1968), and Afghanistan und Seine Kunst (Artia Press, Prague, 1968). Darbois had her first solo exhibition during 1951 in Paris. From 1984, she held numerous exhibitions of her African photography and her work on women of different cultures. In the late 1990s, she did a major exhibition on women called Regards de Femmes. Darbois died on 6 September 2014 at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darbois, Dominique 1925 births 2014 deaths Artists from Paris French photojournalists French women photographers Humanist photographers Women photojournalists