Josef Koudelka was born in Czechoslovkia in 1938 but fled the country in 1969. He became a member of Magnum Photos in 1974 and has lived in Paris since 1980. He has won significant awards such as the Prix Nadar (1978), a Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), a Grand Prix Cartier-Bresson (1991) and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (1992). In 2012, he was named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
