As a young man Marc Garanger had put off his departure for the French army as long as possible, hoping that the war in Algeria, which he objected to, would soon end. When his luck ran out he was asigned a position as regiment photographer.
The French army destroyed mountain villages where they suspected Algerian resistance, transfering the population to regroupment villages - concentration camps. Here the military determined that the displaced people would be required to have identity cards.
"Either I refused and went to prison, or I accepted. I understood my luck: it was to be a witness, to make pictures of what I saw that mirrored my opposition to the war. I saw that I could use what I was forced to do, and have the pictures tell the opposite of what the authorities wanted them to tell.”
The women, Berber or Muslim, had never had contact with Europeans. They were made to sit on a stool in front a wall without their veils, exposing their hair and tattoos.
"In a period of ten days, I made two thousand portraits, two hundred a day. The women had no choice in the matter. Their only way of protesting was through their look.”