TEHRAN -- An exhibition of photos by veteran Iranian photojournalist Reza Deghati is underway at the War Memorial Museum in Caen, France.

The museum is playing host to a selection of photos once published in Reza’s book “War and Peace”. (He works under the title Reza). Also included is an installation of his personal items used during his various trips, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Wednesday.
Reza’s “War and Peace” is a powerful and moving photo collection that illuminates current events and recent history in places of conflict represented in the news every day. These remarkable pictures convey torment and upheaval, but also the art, culture, and traditions of war-stricken areas as well as his understanding of humanity and deep commitment to justice.
The exhibit which opened on January 29 will run through until March 29. Established in 1988, the Caen Memorial is regarded as the best World War II museum in France.
Born in Tabriz in 1952, Deghati began his career at 14. He later studied architecture at the University of Tehran.
From 1971 to 1978, he photographed rural society and architecture in his homeland. Between 1978 and 1979, the Islamic Revolution shifted his focus from the countryside, and he covered the event for Agence France-Presse (AFP).
His work for AFP attracted the attention of Newsweek, for whom he became a correspondent in Iran from 1978 to 1981. He then became a Middle East correspondent for Time from 1983 to 1988. From 1989 to 1990, he served as a consultant to the United Nations humanitarian program in Afghanistan.
Deghati’s first full photo spread for National Geographic magazine appeared in “Cairo: Clamorous Heart of Egypt”, published in April 1993. Since then he has taken photos for “Turkey, Struggles for Balance” (May 1994), “Xinjiang” (March 1996), “The Silk Road’s Lost World” (March 1996), “Pilgrimage to China’s Buddhist Caves” (April 1996), “The Imperiled Nile Delta” (January 1997), and “The Rise and Fall of the Caspian Sea” (May 1999).
Deghati has contributed to a number of books, is a regular correspondent for BBC Persian and Radio France Internationale Persian, and has taught at such schools as the Ecole d’Art in Paris and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He lives in Paris.
In 2005 Reza was honored with the title of “Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite by President of France, Jacques Chirac. He also received the 2006 Missouri Honor Medal of the world’s first school of journalism.
He is also the president of Aina, an NGO that promotes the development of independent media in Afghanistan.