Years of War
Christine Spengler
Corbis Sygma
Christine Spengler decided to become a war reporter one day in 1970, when she was in Chad with her younger brother, taking her first photo of barefoot Toubou fighters firing Kalashnikovs at French helicopters. She then went on to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated world of war reporting, taking pictures of just causes and delving into the horror being played out in far-flung places. But, as a female, this photographer clearly sees events from a different angle; on these shoots, Spengler shunned photos motivated by sensationalism, preferring to photograph the survivors. Her first story on the children of Northern Ireland appeared in Life and Paris-Match.
Preview
Thereafter, Spengler was to be found anywhere a war was being fought: she covered the Vietnam war and the bombing of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, followed Polisario Front combatants in Western Sahara, and shared the day-to-day lives of Afghan women under the Taleban's oppressive rule.
Although many of Spengler's pictures have become icons, the photographer has not hitherto published in book form a retrospective collection of her work. Now, Hollywood studios in search of movie ideas are zeroing in on the fascinating life of this woman, whose destiny took a blow upon the death of her brother, Eric. Since the Seventies, Christine Spengler has always been at the heart of the major conflicts that have shaped our contemporary history.
Her pictures have been exhibited around the world, and she has published an autobiography entitled Une femme dans la guerre en France et en Espagne (A Woman in War in France and Spain), the latter country being the one where she was brought up. A new book, Vierges et Toreros (Virgins and Bullfighters), published by Marval, will be coming out in April.
Exhibition presented with support from Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
