Matthieu Alexandre, Photojournalist

I discovered two passions during a trip to Northern Quebec at the age of 15. My first was for the indigenous peoples and their way of conceiving the world, when I met the Cree Indians, and my second was for photography.

After studying ethnology, I devoted myself to social issues. I work mainly in black and white, developing and printing my photos in the darkroom I built in 1992.

I have been on assignment in nearly 30 countries (Afghanistan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Iraq, Nepal, etc.), notably for NGOs. My photographs have been published in the daily  press worldwide (Le Monde, The Washington Post, The Guardian, etc.) and exhibited in New York, Montreal, Geneva, Milan and Paris.

In 2019, I am co-founding inTERREviews.fr, whose editorial line focuses on environmental issues and human rights, two increasingly interdependent issues.

With Marjolaine Edouard (texts) I am the author of the book "Du raisin et des Hommes" (Editions CDP, 2022), an immersion of nearly 2 years with a young generation of winegrowers committed to organic viticulture; and we are working on the release of our next book "Rolwaling, une vallée sacrée en Himalaya" (autumn 2023), an encounter with a population threatened by the collapse of an glacier lake.

Alongside my long-term photo-essays (Boxing, a lesson of life: a severely autistic youngster who, against all odds, practices French boxing / I'll be there:  the help given by a group of citizens to asylum seekers who have made the journey from Afghanistan), I devote my work to photographing the artistic scene (see the Portfolio April in Paris), in the belief, as in Dostoyevsky's novel, that only “beauty will save the world”.

Awards and distinctions: 

"Du raisin et des Hommes" (Of Grapes & men) was awarded at the International Photography Awards in New York in 2021.

“Iraqi Refugees in the Middle East” was selected for the Anthropographia Awards for Human Rights in 2010 and exhibited in Montreal, New York and Geneva. 

“Emmaüs à travers le Monde” (Workless Hopeful Workers) was exhibited at the Festival du Scoop et du Journalisme in Angers in 1999 and selected for screening at the Festival Visa pour l'Image in 2004.

Why am I going back to film photography? Here is the best explanation I found on the back cover of a Miles Davis record!

I work with Leica cameras and lenses since 1993. Thank you to the team at Paris 11 Leica store.