Martine Barrat

Martine Barrat
Born	Oran, Algeria
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Photographer, video and filmmaker
Website	Martine Barrat's website

Martine Barrat is a French photographer, actress, dancer and writer born in Oran, Algeria, and raised in France. A dancer and actress, Martine Barrat was discovered by Ellen Stewart at an international dance festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. "LaMaMa", as Stewart was known, then sent her a plane ticket to perform in her theater, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan; Barrat arrived in the United States in June 1968.

Career

Martine Barrat, photographer, videographer, and filmmaker, has worked in New York since 1968. She is a native of France and was recently inducted by the French government into the highly prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Best known for her videos and photographs of people in Harlem, Brooklyn and the South Bronx, Barrat has exhibited her work in museums around the world.

Barrat’s work has been featured in number of solo exhibitions, including the highly acclaimed Harlem In My Heart, a major retrospective at La Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris. The show featured 190 photographs and her most recent video work and was reviewed and featured in over fifty international newspapers, magazines and radio shows. The French publication Libération remarked that “‘Harlem In My Heart’ is not a monument to the glory of American blacks, but a collection of moments in their company, a rare intensity...it is almost impossible not to cry, the emotion is palpable.” Barrat first gained notoriety with the video “You Do The Crime, You Do The Time”, which premiered in 1978 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The video, which depicted the lives of young gang members in the South Bronx, was a collaborative effort between Barrat and the gang members from 1971-1977. Excerpts of the videos, along with an interview with Barrat, were featured on the nationally broadcast NBC special, "Violence in America." The video was also broadcast in its entirety in Italy, where it received an award for Best Documentary at the Milan Film Festival.

Barrat’s photographs have appeared, throughout the years, in many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Life, Vanity Fair, The Village Voice, Vogue, Paris Match, Le Monde, Die Zeit, La Repubblica, Libération, Kursbuch Magazine, Nikkei Business Magazine, Télérama and Cicero. In 1984, one of her photographs was chosen by Life Magazine as Best Picture of the Year. In 1993, Viking/Penguin published Barrat’s monograph Do or Die, (first published by Rowohlt in Germany as Die Boxer in 1991), an intimate look at child boxers. The book, which includes essays by Martin Scorsese and Gordon Parks, received unanimous praise. Prior to that, Barrat’s photographs were featured in My Friends, published by Yohji Yamamoto (Japan, 1987) with an essay by Makoto Ooka. Additional photographs are featured in numerous other books, including Ohno Kazuo (Film Art, Japan 1999) and Azzedine Alaïa, (Steidl, Germany 1999).

Barrat has also been commissioned to do a number of commercial projects. She was selected by Max Mara to create images for a billboard and bus advertising campaign to celebrate the opening of the Max Mara flagship store in New York in 1994. Prior to that, her work was used for three years in a national print advertising campaign in France, “Variations Gitanes,” which later became the basis for a book and an exhibition at the Musée du Louvre in 1993. Her images of the young soccer player of La Goutte D’or, produced for Nike, were used for an exhibition in 2006 and a limited edition T-shirt. She also produced three films for Yves St. Laurent/Charles of the Ritz: two promotional films (both 1971) and a documentary entitled Woman is Sweeter (1970) with a soundtrack composed by Galt MacDermot, the composer for Hair. In addition, Barrat has produced cover art and press photographs for Virgin Records, Sony Music Entertainment and other companies in the music industry and has made portraits of a wide range of figures, including James Baldwin, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, William Burroughs, Bob Marley, Jacques Chirac, Martin Scorcese, Marguerite Duras, Yasushi Inoue, V. S. Naipaul, Gordon Parks, Paul Auster, and Budd Schulberg. Barrat has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (USA), Creative Artist Project Services (USA), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (France) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (France).

Personal life

Barrat lives in New York at the Chelsea Hotel since 1980.

Select exhibitions, screening and broadcast

Early life

“Hip Hop”, Philharmonie de Paris organised by Francois Gautret, 2021 Photo exhibition hanging in the Goute d’Or park, proposed by Mamadou Yaffa and Habibou Yaffa, 2019

• “True Warriors” and “Getting Lite” films, organised and presented by Mamadou Yaffa, FGO Barbara Goutte d’Or, Paris, 2019
• “Archivist of the South Bronx During the Hip Hop Years” by Martine Barrat, Centre Culturel Hip Hop, Paris France, 2018
• “Getting Lite,” Urban Film Festival, Paris, France, 2018
• “Keep On Keeping On,” Festival of Urban Culture (forthcoming), Havana, Cuba, 2018
• “Keep On Keeping On,” La Place (forthcoming), France. Screening of “Getting Lite” and projection of South Bronx photography from the time and place that hip hop began, 2018
• “La Photographie Français Existe... Je L’ai Rencontrée,” Maison Europeennee de La Photographie de la Ville de Paris, France, 2018
• “Helio Oticica: To Organize Delerium,” Whitney Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Traveling retrospective featuring 30 of my photographs of the South Bronx, alongside 30 photographs Helio took when he visited me working with gangs in the South Bronx, 2017
• “Claim Power,” ON/OFF: An Exhibition of Video, Havana, Cuba. Screening of “Getting Lite”, 2017
• “Festival of the Book,” Aix en Provence, France. Exhibition of four films and four walls of photography with music from the park in Harlem, 2016
• “Nuit Blanche,” Mayor’s courtyard and a central park, Paris, France. Exhibition of boxing photography in the courtyard and Harlem park photography in the park, 2016
• “Autour de l’extreme,” Maison Europeennee de La Photographie de la Ville de Paris (MEP), France, 2010
• “Intim/Ita,” Musée Kampa, Prague, Czech Republic, 2008
• “Chelsea Hotel Through the Eyes of Photographers,” Chelsea Hotel, New York, New York, 2008
• “Harlem in my Heart,” Maison Europeennee de La Photographie de la Ville de Paris, France. Solo exhibition including 190 photographs, with titles by jazz musician David Murray, and the video, “The Last Day of the Rhythm Club.” David Murray performed at the opening, 2007
• “Promises and Hopes of the 21st Century: The Government of Change and The Mexican Exodus to the United States 2000-2006,” International Center, New York, New York. Exhibition organized by Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, 2007
• “Black Style Now,” Museum of the City of New York, New York. Included 34 of Barrat’s photographs with captions by jazz musician David Murray, 2006
• “Jogo Bonito,” Nike Studio, Paris, France. Solo exhibition. Organized in conjunction with the World Cup. Photographs from the exhibition were also made into limited edition T-shirts, 2006
• “Dressing for New York City Childhood,” Museum of the City of New York, New York. Included 37 photographs which were displayed in the museum and incorporated into a live performance produced by designer Mariko Susuki, 2001
• “La Collection de Photographie Agnès b.,” Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France, 2000
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Included presentation of photographs and lecture, 2000

90’s

• “Boxing,” Center for Art and Culture of Bedford Stuyvesant, New York, New York. Photographic exhibition dedicated to Cuban boxer Kid Chocolate, 1999
• “Pour regarder le siècle en face,” Centre Culturel, Fort de France, Martinique. Organized by UNESCO as an homage to Aimé Césaire. Included 36 of Barrat’s photographs. Traveled throughout the Caribbean and Europe, 1998
• “Azzedine Alaïa,” Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands, 1997
• “A Century Apart: Images of Struggle and Spirit, Jacob Riis and Five Contemporary Photographers,” Museum of the City of New York, New York. Included 26 of Barrat’s photographs. Traveled to Paris, St. Petersberg, Sweden and Copenhagen, 1995
• “Do You See My Face,” National Museum of Lyon, France. Solo Exhibition. Organized in conjunction with the Festival Internationale de la Danse. Included 200 photographs. Title given by jazz musician Ornette Coleman, 1994
• “Variations Gitanes,” Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, 1993
• “In the Ring,” Snug Harbor Cultural Center (Newhouse Gallery), Staten Island, New York, 1993
• “Galerie du Jour,” Agnes b. Gallery, Paris, France. The gallery’s annual exhibition. Traveled to Budapest, Tokyo, New York and London, 1993
• “This Sporting Life: 1878-1991,” High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia. Organized in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic games. This exhibition traveled to several other cities in the USA, including Buffalo, New York, Springfield, Massachusetts and Wilmington, Delaware, 1992
• “Descourvertes: An Exhibition of Boxing Photography,” Bibliotheque Nationale BNF, Paris, France, 1991

80’s

• “Don’t You Know By Now,” Philippe Briet Gallery, New York, New York. Curated by jazz musician Ornette Coleman, 1989
• “Mois de la Photo,” Musee d’Arte Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France, 1988
• “Splendeur et misère du corps humain,” Musee d’Arte et d’Histoire, Friburg, Switzerland, 1988

“My Friends,” French Embassy, New York, New York. Solo exhibition. “Photographie actuelle en France,” Galerie Municipale, Toulouse, France, 1988

• “Harlem Festival,” various venues throughout Italy. Included 100 photographs. Organized by the Harlem Cultural Council, 1986
• “Harlem and Boxing Photographs,” various venues in Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) and Benin. Organized by the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs, 1985
• “Martine Barrat” Museum of Modern Art and Galerie du Jour, Paris, France. Solo exhibition, 1984
• Opened at the Museum of Modern Art, continued at Agnès b.’s Galerie du Jour for the gallery’s grand opening, under the name “Mois de la photo,” and then travelled to nine cities in Germany. “Martine Barrat,” Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts. Solo exhibition. Photographie France Aujourd'hui, Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France, 1984
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, Festival Avant Garde, Linz, Austria, 1983
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, ARCI, National Culture Association, Rome, Italy. Included outdoor screenings on large screens for a large music festival, 1983
• “Une minute pour une image,” FR3 Television Channel, France. Film by Agnès Varda featuring a photograph by Barrat and commentary by Yves Saint Laurent. Produced by Garance, presented by the Centre National de la Photographie, 1983
• “Harlem, South Bronx Photographs,” Nikon House, New York, New York. Exhibition featuring recipients of the Creative Artist Project Services grant, 1983
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, Filmfest München, Munich, Germany, 1982
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, New Video Music USA, San Francisco, California. Traveled to several major European cities, 1982
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, “Guest Artist Series,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts. Invited by Richard Leacock, 1982
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, City of Rome Festival, Rome, Italy, 1982
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, Morrisania Neighborhood Family Center, New York, New York. “Return-Jump,” The Kitchen, New York, New York. A 1979-1982 video retrospective including French artists living in New York. You Do the Crime, You Do the Time was also shown on its own regularly at the Kitchen, 1982
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC. “Photo-Politics”, Institute for Art and Urban Resourses, New York, New York. “Child Boxer”, Galerie de la remise du Parc, Paris, France, 1981
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, The Kitchen, New York, New York, 1980

70’s

• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, Batiment de l’Ancien Séminaire, Fribourg, Switzerland. You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, Network Forum, New York, USA. Sponsored by the Urban Planners and Architects of New York, 1979
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, TG Due Television Channel, Italy. Two Sunday night, prime time broadcasts, 1979
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, “UCLA Video Series,” University of California, Los Angeles, California, 1979
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, “The New American Filmmaker Series,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York. Screened throughout the week, 1978
• You Do the Crime, You Do the Time, “Schizo-Culture Conference,” Columbia University and The French Embassy, New York, New York. Organized by philosopher Félix Guattari, 1977

Literature

• Barrat, Martine (1993). Do or die. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-84325-1.

External links

• Martine Barrat's website