Description

Bruno Barbey was born in Morocco and grew up in various parts of the country: Rabat, Salé, Marrakech and Tangiers. In the course of a long career, Barbey has traveled all over the world, but Morocco keeps attracting him like a magnet. Barbey wrote of the enduring magic of the country: “The Moroccans have so far succeeded in preserving their sense of human solidarity and harmony with nature. They have adapted to the ‘modern’ world while retaining their own culture. As elsewhere globaliztion is now under way, yet Morocco remain—but for how much longer?—a strangely still, almost timeless land.”

Most of the time I take photographs to document for posterity, traditions and cultures rapidly vanishing as a result of changing consumer attitudes

Bruno Barbey
© Bruno Barbey | Magnum Photos

Bruno Barbey was born in Morocco and has dual nationality – French and Swiss. He studied photography and graphic arts at the École des Arts et Métiers in Vevey, Switzerland.

From 1961 to 1964 he photographed the Italians, with the aim of capturing the spirit of a nation and covered the riots in Paris in May, 1968. Over five decades Bruno Barbey has worked in all five continents and covered wars and conflicts in Nigeria, Vietnam, the Middle East, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Kuwait, as well as personal projects in Morocco and China.

His work has appeared in the world’s major magazines and he has published over 30 books.­­­­­ He became a full Magnum member in 1968.

© Bruno Barbey | Magnum Photos

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