Martine Barrat was born in Oran, Algeria and raised in Paris, France. Since relocating in New York in 1968, she has established herself as a photographer, videographer, and filmmaker best known for her vivid images of life in Harlem, Bedford Stuyvesant and the South Bronx. She is the author of My Friends, published by Yohji Yamamoto in 1987, with a foreword by Makoto Ooka, and Do or Die (Viking/Penguin), her intimate view of young boxers, with a foreword by Martin Scorcese and an introduction by Gordon Parks. Her work has been widely exhibited in the US, Europe, Japan, Africa. In 2001 she was awarded the medal of The Order of Arts and Letters from the Ministry of Culture and Communication of the French Government. She is currently at work on Do you See Your Face, which expands on her twenty-five years of Harlem imagery. She is based in New York.