Olivier Laban-Mattei has been a photojournalist since 1999. After ten years with Agence France-Presse, covering French and international news (wars in Iraq, Georgia and Gaza, insurrection in Iran, earthquakes in Java and Haiti, cyclones in Burma...), he embarked on long-term projects in 2010, devoting most of his time to the question of the destructuring of societies, whether due to war, global warming or the greed of foreign investors for the riches of their lands. New forms of colonialism are also at the heart of his concerns. In 2013, he joined the MYOP Agency, of which he is still a member today. Between 2012 and 2016, he worked with the UNHCR on war trauma among refugee (Jordan, Cameroon, Chad) and displaced (Central African Republic) populations. In 2016, he reported for Le Monde on the ethnic cleansing in Malakal, South Sudan, followed by the siege of Taez in Yemen in 2017. Between 2016 and 2019, he directed a documentary film, Apnée, about the psychological trauma of a rape victim (diff. France 3 national). In 2020, he directed a medium-length documentary, Sociologie du confinement en quatre jours et deux saisons, about the Parisian population's adaptation to the obligations of the first confinement. In 2021, he works with Echo (European Commission) on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the Rohingya population in Bangladesh. The same year, he wins a BnF grant to investigate the new peasantry in France, a project he is still pursuing today beyond this commission. In 2024, he directed a film for Echo on the theme of food security in Yemen. In 2025, he is working with researchers from the University of Rennes on the issue of substandard housing in the town of Guingamp. At the same time, he continues to collaborate with the French and foreign press. His work has won numerous awards, including three World Press Photo awards, and has been the subject of numerous exhibitions. He has been a Sony ambassador since 2025.

Minegolia and Neige noire

In the first two parts of his trilogy, which is due to be completed in Sápmi, Olivier Laban-Mattei spent a year and a half in Mongolia between 2012 and 2014, then travelled for several months along the west coast of Greenland in 2020 and 2021 to tell the story of two societies prey to “the curse of abundance”, to foreign covetousness for the riches of their subsoil, which is profoundly transforming their ways of life, a phenomenon amplified by climate change and local political issues. These two works have given rise to books (text and photos), Mongols (2013, ed. Les Belles Lettres) and Neige noire (2024, ed. Hemeria). A third book, Minegolia, is currently in preparation. Numerous exhibitions have highlighted these projects. Olivier Laban-Mattei also takes part in conferences, particularly in schools, to raise public awareness of the consequences of climate disruption in digitally weak societies and of new colonizations.

Awards :

• 2006, 1st prize / Paris-Match award
• 2007, Bendrihem's 1st prize for the best European political photo
• 2009, World Press Photo, 3rd prize story in General News category
• 2009, Special award from the Jury of the international festival of photojournalism of Gijon
• 2010, Pictures of the year international (POYi), 2nd Prize
• 2010, Pictures of the year international (POYi), Award of excellence
• 2010, Special award from the Jury of Days Japan
• 2010, World Press Photo, 2nd Prize story in Spot News category
• 2010, Fotoweek DC, 3rd Prize - Series-Photojournalism/Social Documentary
• 2010, Bayeux-Calvados award for war correspondents, 2nd prize
• 2010, 1st prize / Paris-Match award
• 2011, World Press Photo, 1st prize story in General News category
• 2011, Best of Photojournalism 2011 (BOP-NPPA), 1st prize in "Natural Disaster" category
• 2017, Grant (1st prize) from La Scam for his video documentary, "Apnée" (with Baptiste de Cazenove)
• 2018, Public Prize of Days Japan (war in Yemen)
• 2021, Grant from the French National Library and the French Ministry of Culture
• 2025, POPSU grant ‘Revealing territories: perspectives on contemporary rural areas’