Françoise Demulder

Françoise Demulder (9 June 1947 – 3 September 2008) was a French war photographer who in 1977 became the first woman to win the World Press Photo of the Year award. The winning image was a black and white photo of a Palestinian woman raising her hands at a masked militiaman in Beirut's war-ravaged La Quarantaine district.

Early life Born on 9 June 1947, Demulder, nicknamed Fifi, was the daughter of an electrical engineer. It was this adventure of love that began her career as a wartime photographer.

Career After covering the Vietnam War for three years, the self-made adventurer traveled to other places of crisis in the world including Angola, Lebanon, Cambodia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Cuba. The second made her, in 1977, the first female winner of the World Press Photo. Cancer had left her paraplegic in 2003.

Awards 1977, World Press Photo of the Year, World Press Photo, Amsterdam, for her photo of the Karantina massacre

Collections Demulder's work is held in the following public collections: National Foundation for Contemporary Art Nicéphore-Niepce Museum of Chalon-sur-Saône Agence Roger-Viollet