Pierre de Vallombreuse

Pierre de Vallombreuse (born 1962 in Bayonne), made a photographic collection of 41 indigenous peoples over 25 years of travel to all continents, with more than 130,000 photographs, paying tribute to their diversity.

In contact with Joseph Kessel, a French author and traveler, de Vallombreuse felt a very early desire to be a witness of his time. In 1984, he entered the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris with the idea of becoming a cartoonist. A trip to Borneo the next year, though, changed the course of his life. He shared his daily life with the Punans, the last nomads of the jungle. Normally a sedentary artist, de Vallombreuse decided to become a nomadic witness, and photography became his mode of expression. While still a student at the Arts Décoratifs in Paris, he took multiple trips to the Philippine jungle to stay with the Palawan people. In total, he lived with them for over two years. The first part of his work on this tribe was presented at the photographic festival Les Rencontres internationales de la photographie in Arles.

De Vallombreuse was Secretary General of the Association of Anthropology and Photography (association Anthropologie et Photographie, Paris Diderot University). Since then, he has regularly collaborated with leading international magazines: GEO (France, Russia, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Japan), Sciences et Avenir, Le Monde 2, Le Figaro Magazine, Newsweek, El Mundo, El País, and La Stampa.

Pierre de Vallombreuse has followed the life of a small community of the Palawan ethnic group in the southern Philippines for more than 30 years. Once isolated, the Valley and its inhabitants, whose language he speaks, have seen the outside world enter their lives, creating profound upheavals. The Valley is also threatened by the uncontrolled expansion of large oil palm plantations.

Pierre de Vallombreuse and the National Museum of the Philippines have set up a project to protect the Valley as a sanctuary.

The 21 journeys he made there and the time he spent alongside them led to several exhibitions as well as three books: Hommes des Rochers in 2012, The Valley in 2017 and Une Vallée in 2018.

From 1989 to 2005, Pierre de Vallombreuse paid tribute to the diversity of the world by travelling across every continent for 20 years and sharing the lives of 27 Indigenous peoples.

These populations are considered minorities in many parts of the world, and some are victims of [...]. It is estimated that more than 300 million people May Be at risk.

This work made it possible to create a non-exhaustive overview of their situations around the world, offering a unique and necessary testimony to help understand the threats facing their distinct identities as peoples.

This project led to the publication of the book Peuples, prefaced by Edgar Morin and published by Éditions Flammarion in 2005. It also resulted in an exhibition at the Musée de l’Homme in 2005-2006, which later travelled in France and abroad.

From 2015 to 2016, Pierre de Vallombreuse met four peoples in Southeast Asia where women are equal to men in different ways and hold a decisive place in family and social organisation.

This project led to the publication of the book Souveraines, published in 2015 by Éditions Arthaud, as well as several exhibitions.

Encompassing five years of work, this project represents the commitment of a photographer with eleven indigenous peoples spread across the globe. Its main purpose is to show the intimate relationship between man and his environment. De Vallombreuse presented his work as a testament to the diversity of lifestyles, practices, and traditional knowledge that are embedded in very different environments. These cultures are repositories of knowledge essential to the preservation of biodiversity. De Vallombreuse aimed to promote a reflection on humanity sustainable whose corollary is the protection of nature.

Whenever linked to a specific people, the project emphasizes the multiplicity of responses to living conditions imposed by nature and history. It is in this context that de Vallombreuse addresses this root concept. By meeting people entrenched in their territory and those who have been subjected to the test of uprooting, de Vallombreuse analyzed changes in life affecting our modernity. He worked to show how indigenous peoples are often the first victims of environmental disasters: food shortages, deforestation, global warming, pollution, and water war, crucial questions that, far from being local concerns, affect our mutual humanity.

Since 2007, this project has resulted in 12 exhibitions and numerous publications.

• 1993: winner of the Leonardo da Vinci Prize, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 2017: International Planète Albert Kahn Prize
• 2021: elected member of the Société des explorateurs français
• 2023: winner of the Viviane Esders Prize.
• In addition, La Dure Vie de Tulibac, a documentary film about the Palawan people produced for Canal+ and the BBC, received several awards:
  • First Prize, “Île d’Or”, International Adventure Film Festival,Bailly, 2000
  • First Prize, International mountain and adventure film festival, Graz, Austria, 2001
  • Camera Alpin in Gold, International Island Film Festival, Île de Groix, 2002

• Là où la terre nous nourrit, Terre de Montaigu, 2026
• Les Temps modernes, Odyssée, 2026
• Une classe américaine, Les Arènes éditions, 2022
• 36 vues, Poetry Wanted édition, 2022
• Lost Grace, Pierre Bessard éditions, 2021
• Badjaos, Les Éditions de Juillet, 2020
• Au hasard des vents, Paris, Éditions ediSens, 2019
• Une Vallée, Paris, The (M) éditions, 2018
• The Valley, catalogue of the photographic exhibition on the Palawan people, National Museum of the Philippines, 2017
• Souveraines, Paris, Éditions Arthaud, 2015
• Y a-t-il une lune chez toi?, Paris, Éditions Le Passeur, 2014
• Hommes racines, Paris, Éditions de La Martinière, 2012
• La Dalle, voyage à Choisy-le-Roi, Paris, Éditions de La Martinière, 2010
• Itinéraires, Paris, Éditions de La Martinière, 2008
• Peuples, texts by Edgar Morin, Paris, Groupe Flammarion, 2006
• Les Hommes des rochers, Paris, Hoebeke, 2002
• Taw Batu, text by Charles Macdonald, Boulogne-Billancourt, Éditions du Musée Albert-Kahn, 1994

• Catalogue Réflexivités, 2022
• Les Amis de Bernard Plossu, Filigranes Éditions, 2021
• Blue Sky / Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Portland, Oregon, United States, 2017
• Catalogue du Mois de la Photo du Grand Paris, 2017
• Philippines, archipel des échanges, Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Actes Sud, 2013
• Hervé Le Goff, Picto 1950-2010. Voir avec le regard de l’autre, Actes Sud Beaux Arts, 2011
• Gilles de Bure, Que sont mes amis devenus. 40 créateurs de l’École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, Éditions Norma/ENSAD, 2010
• Don de Vie, Paris, Éditions Jean di Sciullo, 2008
• Les Aventuriers de la culture. Guide de la diversité culturelle, Paris, Naïve, 2008
• Stop, Laurent de Bartillat, Simon Retallack, Paris, Seuil, 2003
• Autour du monde. Un autre voyage, AFAA, Chroniques Nomades, Filigranes Éditions, 1999
• Yvon Le Bot, Indiens: Chiapas - Mexico - Californie, Montpellier, Indigène Éditions, 2002
• Fraternité, le tour du monde de la fraternité par les plus grands photographes, Paris, Albin Michel, 1990

• Là où la terre nous nourrit, La Maison de la Rivière / Terres de Montaigu, 2025 / 2026
• La fin des Badjaos: les derniers nomades de la mer, Festival Photo Cholet, 2025
• Autochtones, Leica Store, Paris Rive Gauche, 2024
• Pueblos, La Manzana, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, 2024
• Peuples, Le Printemps photographique de Pomerol, 2023
• Lost Grace, Festival photographique Réflexivités de Lourmarin, 2022
• Badjaos, Galerie Le Voleur d’Images, Paris, 2021
• Une vallée, Palawan, Philippines, Festival Itinéraires photographes voyageurs, Bordeaux, April 2019
• Le Peuple de La Vallée, chapitre 1, Musée de l'Homme, Festival Photo de Bellême, 2018
• Le Peuple de La Vallée, chapitre 1, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, January to June 2018
• The Valley, National Museum of the Philippines, 2017
• Tribute to Claude Lévi-Strauss, Mois de la Photo du Grand Paris, Galerie Hegoa, April 2017
• Souveraines, exhibition at Galerie Argentic, Paris V, France, October–November 2015
• Roots People, exhibition at Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon, United States
• Hommes racines: the different stages of this project led to 12 exhibitions in France, including at Les Champs Libres in Rennes, at the Photo Peuples et Nature festival and in various cities, 2008–2012
• Les Hadzabes, Hommes racines series, Festival L’Œil en Seyne, La Seyne-sur-Mer, 2011
• Peuples nomades, screening at the Musée du quai Branly, 2011
• Sur les traces de Claude Lévi-Strauss, Photo Peuples & Nature festival, La Gacilly, 2011
• Les Inuits, Neiges de Cultures cultural event, Serre Chevalier, 2010–2011
• La Dalle, Paul Éluard theatre, Choisy-le-Roi, January to March 2010
• Peuples: Musef, Ethnographic Museum of La Paz, Bolivia, 2009
• Regards croisés sur les Amériques, Musée des Confluences, Lyon, 2009
• Les nomades Rabaris, nomadisme et liberté, screening and lecture at the Maison des Métallos, Paris, 2009
• The Roots People, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Bhopal, India, 2008 / 2009
• Peuples, Espacio de Arte Uno Manzana, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2008
• Itinéraires, Maison des Métallos, Paris, 2008
• Peuples:
  • Rencontres photographiques de Créteil, 2008
  • Screening at Visa pour l'image, Perpignan, 2006
  • Musée de l'Homme, Paris, 2006
  • Chamonix Science Festival, 2006
• Existences, Fortress of Polignac, Polignac, 2006
• La Danse sacrée de Rukmini, Maison des Indes, Paris, 2004
• Indiens: Chiapas - Mexico - Californie, group exhibition at the Parc de la Villette, Paris, 2002
• Peuples en guerre, Bayeux-Calvados Awards for war correspondents, 2002
• Les Palawans, Festival Chroniques Nomades, Honfleur, 1998
• Les Hommes des Rochers:
  • Museum of Cultures and Traditions of Manila, Philippines, 1995
  • Musée Albert-Kahn, Boulogne-Billancourt, 1994
  • Visa pour l'image Festival, Perpignan, 1992
• Les Palawans, Rencontres d'Arles, 1989

• Peuples premiers, Museum of Archaeology and History of Le Mans, Le Mans, 2021
• Une Vallée:
  • Festival Chroniques Nomades, Auxerre, 2020
  • Festival Itinéraires photographes voyageurs, Bordeaux, 2019
• Les Amis de Bernard Plossu, Galerie Nadar, Tourcoing, 2019
• Philippines, archipel des échanges, Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Actes Sud, Paris, France, 2013
• Regards croisés sur les Amériques, Musée des Confluences, 2009
• Thirty years of reporting from Figaro Magazine, railings of the Senate, Paris, 2008
• Autour du Monde, collective travelling exhibition around the world, organised by the AFAA and Chroniques Nomades, 1999
• Humain, très humain, Rencontres de la photographie, Arles, 1989

• Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
• Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Musée Albert-Kahn, Boulogne-Billancourt
• Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, United States
• Museum of Cultures and Traditions of Manila, Philippines
• Musef, Ethnographic Museum of La Paz, Bolivia
• Yves Rocher Foundation
• Polignac Foundation, France
• Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

• Café Gens d'images: "Meeting with Pierre de Vallombreuse, photographer and explorer, who has devoted more than 35 years of his life to documenting the richness and struggles of Indigenous peoples", Paris, 2026
• Conference on the Indigenous peoples of the French Republic, with Anne Pastor, Musée de l'Homme, June 2018
• Territories and Diversity, Rencontres de la photo de Chabeuil, 2017
• What are Indigenous peoples?, with André Delpuech, director of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, as part of the Mois de la Photographie du Grand Paris, Paris, 2017
• The Thousand and One Roads of a Great Witness of the World, guest of the Université Populaire du Voyage, Albertville, 2015
• Tales of Indigenous Sovereignty and Ecological Diversity, lecture at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Portland, Oregon, United States, 2014
• Participation in the symposium on images organised by Visa pour l'image, 2009
• Conference with Edgar Morin about the book Peuples at Théâtre l'Espal, Le Mans, 2006
• Five conferences linked to the Hommes racines project at Les Champs Libres in Rennes, with Catherine Clément (philosopher), Maurice Godelier (anthropologist at the CNRS), Joe Linklater (chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin people of Canada), Raphaël Picard (Innu chief from Canada), Yvon Le Bot (sociologist and research director at the CNRS) and Barbara Glowczewski (ethnologist and research director at the CNRS), 2006–2012

• Rencontres de la photo de Chabeuil, Chabeuil, 2019–2024
• Art of Change 21 Conclave, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, 2014 – Guest artist
• Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d'Arles, Arles, 2017–2026
• French School of Portland, Oregon, United States, 2014 – Workshop
• Louis Regnier Psychiatric Hospital, Rennes, France, 2007–2012 – Workshop
• Rennes Prison, France, 2007–2009 – Workshop

• Invited to Choisy-le-Roi by the Paul Éluard theatre in 2008–2009
• Invited to India by the Embassy of France to carry out work on one of the peoples featured in the Hommes racines project, in 2008
• Invited by Les Champs Libres from 2007 to 2012 for the Hommes racines project

• de Vallombreuse's website