Biography

My name is Marie Ruwet and I'm a Master’s student in journalism in Brussels and I am finishing my studies in DMJX in Denmark.

 What sets me apart is my passion for marginal environments and my preference for an immersive approach, which involves getting to know my subjects intimately before taking picture of them. For exemple, most of the portraits of South Africa are of people I know very well and have lived with. When I was 18, I went to live in Soweto for a year. I went back 4 years later to make a documentary about fives skaters. The project I made about the drug dealers of Matongue ( neighboorhood of black people in Bruxelles), the Arhuacos in Colombia, Talibés children in Sénégal or the farmers in Iceland are concrete manifestation of this passion : meeting, living, and sharing with different people drives me to my very core.

When I came back from my year in Soweto , I knew straight away that I wanted to make documentaries (in photography and video). I was immediately drawn to photography when I started at IHECS in Bruxelles. At the end of my first year, a photography teacher allowed me to exhibit a series of photos at Photocity (Europe's largest outdoor exhibition). The subject was the life of a naturist flat-share in the Netherlands, and it was my first photojournalistic report at the age of 19.

 I did my Erasmus Program in Volda University College and I learnt a lot about photography that side: whether it's the technique itself or outdoing myself in the field by being as creative as possible. The Scandinavian upbringing is just as different as in Belgium and that helped me to progress. I did my bachelor internship at Investigation, RTBF, one of the biggest media in Belgium.