French photography agency MYOP is marking its 20th anniversary with the publication of a comprehensive photo book titled "My Eyes, Patient Objects" (Mes Yeux, Objets Patients), released by Éditions Hoëbeke. The 512-page volume showcases the work of 20 photographers and features 500 photographs that chronicle two decades of visual storytelling and documentary photography.
The book serves as both a celebration and a manifesto, bringing together the diverse perspectives of MYOP's roster of acclaimed photographers. The collection includes work from Ed Alcock, Guillaume Binet, Julien Daniel, Agnès Dherbeys, Laurence Geai, Pierre Hybre, Olivier Jobard, Alain Keler, France Keyser, Oan Kim, Olivier Laban-Mattei, Stéphane Lagoutte, Jean Larive, Ulrich Lebeuf, Zen Lefort, Olivier Monge, Julien Pebrel, Chloé Sharrock, Michel Slomka, and Adrienne Surprenant. Each photographer has contributed to what the agency describes as "20 years of a story in movement."
According to writer Fannie Escoulen, who penned the book's introduction, MYOP will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2025. "How do we account for a collective adventure crossed by the gazes of twenty photographers? How do we read thousands of images accumulated in the opacity of time and retain only a fragment?" Escoulen writes, reflecting on the challenge of distilling two decades of visual documentation into a single volume.
Escoulen describes the book's approach as an attempt to "go back through the course of history – to show in slow motion, to better understand what humanity has lived through these past twenty years." She emphasizes that MYOP has consistently "taken the pulse of our era" through the lens of documentary photography, with its photographers delivering powerful images that are "sometimes silent, imbued with poetry, with pain."
The publication positions MYOP as a counter-force in an age of overwhelming image production and circulation. "In a world where the production and circulation of images seem to escape us, MYOP stands firm. Its weapon: photography. The kind that bears witness, that denounces, assails us and awakens our consciences," Escoulen explains. She credits the agency's success to "its freedom, its commitment and an unwavering collective energy."
The book, measuring 13.60 x 17.50 x 4.20 cm, is published jointly by Éditions Gallimard and Hoëbeke with ISBN 2073120660. MYOP describes itself as being "there, on the threshold of our reality," with their photographers' eyes serving as guides "in the darkness." The publication represents not just a retrospective look at the agency's work, but a statement about the enduring power of documentary photography to capture and interpret the human condition.
