Missions: Medecins du Monde

Gerard Rondeau
Published by Editions du Seuil
€37
256pp Hardback

Missions: Médecins (jusqu’au bout) du Monde is a book that celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Médecins du Monde through the eye of Vu photographer Gerard Rondeau.

On 22 December 1989 Rondeau was accompanying the humanitarian organisation Médecins du Monde to Bucharest where they were the first to access the city, freshly liberated from the Ceausescu regime. Since this experience, Rondeau has been following the French doctors to document their extensive work, from Niger to St. Petersburg, from Iraqi Kurdistan to Sarajevo, New York and even Paris by night. Rondeau has not only concentrated his work on the everyday struggles of Médecins du Monde staff but also has documented the communities affected and their surrounding landscapes. In a classic black and white reportage style, Rondeau has sensitively shown the pain, the horror, the liberation, the hope as well as the unrelenting dedication of Médecins du Monde.

The design of the book follows a purist approach with the photos printed on a black paper, either full page or many smaller pictures on a few spreads. The texts accompanying the photos are a personal insight to the adventures that Rondeau experienced with Médecins du Monde. The book is rigorous in terms of the historical and political context of the stories.

Only available in French at the moment it merits translation and publication in English. One Médecins du Monde motto is: “Making Health a Human Right”. This book celebrates that aim.

Ludivine Morel

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