Luc Delahaye (b. 1962), is part of a generation of photographers who re-examined the relationship between documentary and artistic practice.

Delahaye has sought to confront the dislocations of the modern world. Through his mostly large-scale color works – documenting conflicts in Haiti, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine, as well as OPEC and COP conferences – he examines the turbulent world we inhabit and the forums that are supposed to bring order to chaos.

Whether captured in a single shot or assembled from fragments on a computer over several months, his photographs always bring us face to face with reality, experienced either immediately or after the fact. As Delahaye explains, he seeks to articulate this reality from a purely documentary stance, without demonstration – “to achieve unity with reality through a form of absence, a form of unconsciousness, even. A silent unity. Photography is something quite beautiful: it allows us to reconnect the self with the world.”

Spanning a quarter-century of photographic output, this retrospective brings together around 40 large-format works – some specially produced for the exhibition and shown for the first time – alongside a major installation that marks a departure from Delahaye’s previous practice. The exhibition is currently on display at Jeu de Paume in Paris. It will soon move to Photo Elysée for its first showing on Swiss soil.