Lionel Briot

Lionel Briot is a French photographer whose work combines commissioned photography with a distinct, human-centred artistic practice. He began taking photographs at the age of 15 and, after working in various professions and travelling widely, turned to photography professionally in the early 1990s. His influences include American photographers of the 1970s, such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Robert Frank, as well as filmmakers of the same era.

Briot has worked across corporate photography, photojournalism and fashion, creating advertising and institutional commissions and collaborating with publications including Le Monde, Libération and Télérama. Alongside this work, he develops long-form photographic series focused on people and lived experience. His images are rooted in reality and known for their narrative strength and humanism. Working closely with his subjects, he seeks to portray them with sincerity, humility and discretion. His featured series include Vélodrome, Le Douzième Homme, Burma, Just Before Dawn, Made in Marseille, Au Cœur Des Archives, Sur Les Quais, Traffic, Nanthalat, Handcrafted in France and Histoire d’Être.