Portrait and documentary photography. Geneva.
First exhibition: Focale O, 1988.

Documentary Photographer
Portraits that tell stories, an engaged eye

Mapping poster
Mapping
Denis

Ponté

Photographer

Geneva, 1964

4 × 5 view camera · Polaroid negative · anaglyphs

02

To photograph someone is to
accept that you do not know
what will appear.

An independent practice, developed outside institutional constraints: from AIDS to cataract, from Geneva to Ouagadougou, from the streets of New York to the workshops of Abidjan.

7books published
since 1994
38years of photography,
first encounter in 1988
2third prizes at the Nikon
Photo Contest International
1992–93 and 1994–95
03

Reportages & Portraits

The heart of the work. Studio or daylight, 4 × 5 inch view camera or 35 mm
a face, an exposure, a presence willing to face the lens.

Cayo Coco, Cuba, 2013
01
Child at school, Bolivia, 1993. Esperanza exhibition, UNI II, Geneva, Terre des Hommes
02
Perișoru Railway Station (Gara Perișoru), Romania, 1995. Casa de copii exhibition, Geneva Red Cross
03
Left for Dead (Laissé pour mort), Olizane Editions, 1994. Manhattan, New York City, USA
04
Cataracte, Slatkine Editions, 2025. Portrait of a woman with cataracts before surgery, Chókwè Hospital, 2023
05
Stop along a Cuban road, gas station, Cuba, 2013
06
Osborne Bull (Toro de Osborne), Santa Elena, Jaén, Spain, 2022
07
Children in Vinh (Thành phố Vinh), Vietnam, 2008
08
Reportage in Lourdes, France 2026
09
04

Light Table

Drag →

Cataracte, Slatkine Editions, 2025. Portrait of a woman with cataracts before surgery, Hôpital Chókwè, Mozambique, 2023
01Cataracte, Mozambique
Homo artifex, Place-Neuve Editions, Black Lives Matter demonstration, Geneva, 2020
02Homo artifex
Guianos, Ebro Delta, gelatin silver photograph, 4 × 5 inch black-and-white negative, 1993
03Guianos
Thônex, gelatin silver photograph, 1987, Première rencontre exhibition, Focale O, 1988, Jean Tua Museum, Geneva, 1993
04Passé décomposé
Cataracte, Slatkine Editions, 2025. Prisoner who underwent cataract surgery, Chókwè Hospital, 2023
05Cataracte, prisoner
Navigation in Cambodia - Siem Reap to Battambang route, 2008
06Laos
Cataracte, portrait, Child affected by cataract before surgery, José Macao Hospital, Maputo
07Cataracte
Jean-Claude Dioma, Minister of Culture, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2015
08Jean-Claude Dioma, Minister of Culture, Ouagadougou
After the Storm, Ebro Delta, tuna, 2020
09After the Storm, Ebro Delta, 2020
face à elle, Favre Editions, 2015, and exhibition at Saint-Gervais, Librairie Arabe and Bains des Pâquis, Geneva
10face à elle
Tiébery Dam (Tiébélé, near Corabié), Tiébélé Commune, Nahouri Province, 2017
11Homo artifex, Tiebery Dam, Burkina Faso
New Jersey, view of Manhattan, gelatin silver photograph, 1993
12Manhattan
Neighborhood consisting of several newly built, abandoned apartment buildings, Vinaròs, Spain, 2019
13Vinaròs, Spain
On the road between Fada N’Gourma, Gourma Province, and Mahadaga, Tapoa Province, Logobou Commune, 2017
14Route du Faso
Cataracte, Slatkine Editions, 2025, Costa do Sol Beach, Maputo, 2023
15Cataracte, Costa do Sol Beach, Maputo
Deaf Project, Sarah Sasoo, Spoken Portraits (Portraits parlés), Cairo, Egypt, 2026
16Portraits parlés
Street Barber, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2008
17Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Copacabana, Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, 1988. Black-and-white infrared Kodak film photograph
18Lake Titicaca
05

A Voice on an Image

Adèle, photographic portrait made with a 4 × 5 inch view camera using Polaroid 55 negative
Adèle, portrait made on Polaroid 55 film
“I would be tempted to see them, in a sense, as almost self-portraits, so true, faithful and honest is the transcription. I therefore chose one image, Adèle. Fascinated, I should say, by that dead eye, but also by the extraordinary presence of the person, by the evidence of existence, by the strength of both the subject and the photographer.”

Charles-Henri Favrod

Journalist, writer and founder of the Musée de l'Élysée, Switzerland’s first museum dedicated to photography.

First encounter in Vevey, 1992.

In 1998, he chose the image of Adèle and recorded his commentary on it.

00:00 / 01:34
100 %
Available

Original recording, 1 min 34 — Denis Ponté archives

06

Series & Projects

Long-term bodies of work, almost all extended into a book, film or exhibition.

01 Cataracte Mozambique · book 2025 Surgical campaigns by UOSSM in Mozambique. A book published by Slatkine in 2025, 176 pages. 02 Homo artifex Côte d'Ivoire, Geneva · 2020 — 2021 A three-part body of work on migration: a 62-minute documentary film, an exhibition and a book. “So that migrants have a voice, a precise face.” 03 Portraits Geneva, West Africa · since 1988 04 Portraits parlés Egypt, Spain, West Africa · since 2016 Portraits made with deaf people: sign language enters the frame, gesture becomes speech. 05 face à elle Geneva · 2015 06 Route du Faso Burkina Faso · part of Homo artifex A road journal made as part of Homo artifex: the road, the workshops, the gestures of those who leave and those who remain.
07

Books

Seven books, from 1994 to the present.

Photographs by Denis Ponté
Cover of the book Cataracte, photographs by Denis Ponté

Cataracte

Publisher
Slatkine, 2025
Texts
Philippe Constantin
Foreword
Dr Raphaël Pitti, Thierry Apothéloz, Alfonso Gomez
Language
French / English
Pages
176 p.
ISBN
978-2-8321-1408-7
Price
Fr. 49.–

Available

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Order ↗
Cover of the book Homo artifex, photographs by Denis Ponté

Homo artifex

Publisher
Place-Neuve, 2021
Texts
Serge Desarnaulds
Foreword
Marino Cuenat, Philippe Macasdar, Carmen García Almenar
Language
French / Spanish
Pages
180 p. — 105 photographs
ISBN
978-2-8399-1550-2
Price
Pay what you wish

Available

homo-artifex.ponte.pro ↗ Order ↗
Cover of the book face à elle, photographs by Denis Ponté

face à elle

Publisher
Favre, 2015
Foreword
Serge Desarnaulds
Language
French
Format
30 × 29 cm
ISBN
978-2-8289-1487-5
Price
Fr. 36.–

Available

faceaelle.ch ↗ Order ↗
Cover of the book Histoires de vivre, photographs by Denis Ponté, 1998

Histoires de vivre

Publisher
Wesakeditions, 1998
Text
Sylviane Guérin
Language
French
Subject
HIV / AIDS, Geneva

Out of print

Polaroid Act I CD-ROM cover, photographs Denis Ponté 1998, Déponence Editions, Polaroid Type 55 negative portraits, 4x5 inch

Polaroid Act I

Publisher
Déponence, 1998
Language
French
Subject
Portraits made with Polaroid 55 film
CD-ROM
Multimedia

Out of print

Au bord du monde, Abracadabra Editions, 1995, exhibition at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, 1995, Geneva

Au bord du monde

Publisher
Abracadabra, 1995
Text
Isabelle Maillard Rilliet
Foreword
Jean-François Labarthe
Language
French
Edition
650 numbered copies
ISBN
2-88086-044-X

Out of print

Left for Dead, Olizane Editions, 1994. Manhattan, New York City, USA.

Left for Dead

Publisher
Olizane, 1994
Texts
Philippe Constantin
Language
French / English
ISBN
2-88086-151-9
In support of
Coalition for the Homeless, New York
Edition
Two numbered screenprints by Albertine (1994, 26 × 28 cm, 200 copies) were produced to support the book

Last copies — very limited availability

08

Press

Print media, television and radio from 1988 to the present.

1988Première rencontre — Focale O, first exhibitionPDF ↗ 1988Passé décomposé — Musée Jean TuaPDF ↗ 1990ContrastePDF ↗ 1991Maine — Galerie EuropaPDF ↗ 1992Vevey School of PhotographyPDF ↗ 1992Left for Dead — first articlesPDF ↗ 1993Cadavre exquis — Galerie EuropaPDF ↗ 1994Couleur café — Galerie Faits DiversPDF ↗ 1994Left for Dead — press coveragePDF ↗ 1994EsperanzaPDF ↗ 1995Au bord du monde — press coveragePDF ↗ 1998Histoires de vivre — press coveragePDF ↗ 2018LondonPDF ↗ 2021Homo artifex — Leica BlogPDF ↗ 2024Scènes MagazinePDF ↗ 2025Le Temps — CataractePDF ↗ 2025Le Courrier, 28 OctoberPDF ↗ 2025Bilan — Étienne DumontPDF ↗ 2025Ensemble No. 279PDF ↗ 2025La Voz — Catarata, SaguntoPDF ↗ 2025El Levante — opening exhibitionPDF ↗ 2026Planète Santé, 19 JanuaryPDF ↗ 2026Écho Magazine No. 9PDF ↗ 2026L'Écho du Gros-de-Vaud, 15 MayPDF ↗ 2026Corridor Éléphant, 14 JulyPDF ↗ 2026Cataracte — complete press dossierPDF ↗
09

Career

First exhibition in 1988 at Focale O, with Première rencontre. He graduated from the Vevey School of Photography in 1992, winning first prize, and has since produced reportage in South America for Terre des Hommes, in Romania for the Geneva Red Cross, and on public-health issues — HIV/AIDS with Histoires de vivre, and cataract in Mozambique.

He has taught photography at the University of Geneva since 2004, on the Certificate of Visual Studies from 2018 to 2024, and at the Société genevoise de photographie (SGP) since 2023. Founding member of Éditions Place-Neuve.

Wikipedia entry ↗
1988

First exhibition — Focale O, Première rencontre

1992

CFC, Vevey School of Photography — first prize

1992–95

Two third prizes in consecutive editions at the Nikon Photo Contest International, Japan

1993–95

Galerie Faits Divers, Geneva — founding member

1994

Left for Dead — published in support of the Coalition for the Homeless, New York

1995

Au bord du monde — Musée international de la Croix-Rouge

1998

Polaroid Act I and Histoires de vivre

2004

Éditions Place-Neuve — founding member. Teaching photography at the University of Geneva.

2015

face à elle — book and exhibitions at Centre culturel Saint-Gervais, Bain des Pâquis and Librairie arabe

2020–21

Homo artifex — documentary film, 62 min
A three-part project: an exhibition, a book and a film.
Screenings in Geneva, Sion and Valencia, Spain.

2026

Cataracte — Corridor Éléphant, Fondation Le Quadratin, Ferme Sarrasin