It was only last year that I discovered the work of Dominique Darbois through Karl Joseph, artistic director of the Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane, which exhibited her photographs of the Wayana people, shot in the 1950s. I was surprised by these neglected photographs, which represent a valuable archive, and the fascinating journey of Darbois herself.
A resistance fighter in her youth, Dominique Darbois became the assistant of the photographer Pierre Jahan when he returned from the First Indochina War, where she went shortly after the liberation of Paris. She quickly became a photographer herself, traveling to French Guyana in the Amazonian rainforest to meet native communities. After spending a year with them, she returned with a documentary and several book, including Parana le petit indien, the first of a long series of innovative books for young readers in over 60 countries. She had mastered the printing process during her time as a photo assistant. This collection, which lasted over twenty years, is sadly out of print, but the photographs were published in Terre d’enfants in 2004 by Xavier Barral.
An activist, adventurer and active defender of human rights, Darbois then became involved in the Algerian resistance. She continued to produce photographs, shooting a long report on training camps for the FLN. She was confronted to the French censorship that forbid the publication of the reportage. In 2009 she gave her archives to the national overseas archives,. She traveled to Cuba and Afghanistan, where she was the last person to photographed the Kabul Museum before it was destroyed, then lead a project on the condition of women in several countries in West Africa.
Dominique Darbois, a politically engaged photographer and humanist, died on September 7th at the age of 89, leaving thousands of archives and negatives, including some that remain unpublished.
BOOK
Terre d’Enfants Édition Xavier Barral, 2004
Afrique, terre de femmes Édition Ides et Calendes, 2004
