Ronny Jacques

Ronny Jacques (b. 1974) is a French documentary photographer whose work explores the relationship between people and the waterways that shape their lives. Raised on the banks of the Seine near Rouen, he studied visual arts at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie before embarking on long-term projects documenting riverine communities from the Loire Valley to the Mekong Delta. Jacques’s images blend intimate portraits with sweeping landscapes, revealing how water both sustains and isolates the towns, fishermen, and pilgrims who depend on it.

His breakthrough series, The River Keeps (2008–2012), traced seasonal changes along France’s major rivers, earning him the Prix Niépce Jeune in 2013. He followed with Floating Markets (2014–2017), a six‑country exploration of Southeast Asian commerce that was exhibited at Paris’s Maison Européenne de la Photographie and later published as a monograph. In 2018 Jacques co‑founded Rivertown Collective, a cooperative that brings photographers, writers, and environmental scientists together to raise awareness of freshwater conservation.

Jacques’s photographs have appeared in Le Monde and National Geographic France, and he has lectured at the Sorbonne and at the International Center of Photography in New York. His recent work, Delta Echoes (2020–2024), uses panoramic stitching and archival materials to interrogate how climate change is reshaping delta communities worldwide. Jacques continues to live between Paris and Ho Chi Minh City, where he is developing a new project on nomadic fishermen in the South China Sea.