Since February 10, 2015, the ECPA-D (the French Defense Photographic and Audiovisual Production Unit) will celebrate its Centenary with a new exhibition devoted to One Hundred Years of Photography in the Army by presenting a selection of its photographs on the pillars of the Main Courtyard of the Hotel des Invalides.
This exhibition was designed to highlight 100 years of photography in the French Army in order to commemorate the Centennial of the ECPA-D, established originally as the French Photographic Unit. Since 1915, this unit ensures proper institutional documentation – through photography, film and video – of all aspects of French military life and covers all the conflicts in which the French Army participated. The ECPA-D is responsible for preserving and communicating all audio-visual archives of the Ministry of Defense, a collection representing over 10 million images, amongst which 100 were carefully selected for this exhibition.
The exhibition offers us the opportunity to look at one hundred years of French history through the official Army photographers’ lenses. Twenty thematic panels illustrate the first and second world wars, the bitter wars of decolonisation that followed, the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and Mali, along with the humanitarian operations such as the French response to the earthquake in Haiti. The public is invited to go well beyond the sole context of photographic production and take the opportunity to reflect over each photograph, its depiction of war and the official Army photographer’s vocation.
For all those who will not have the opportunity to see the exhibition, visit our News blog with our 20 episodes serial promoting both exceptional and original images from the photographic collections of the ECPA-D. Yours to discover, twice-weekly.
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