“Live Standing Up” Paris photo exhibition celebrates strength and resilience.
Through more than 80 powerful photographs, portraits, and life stories that bear witness to the realities of individuals and families facing the consequences of war, natural disasters, and disease, these images illuminate both the hardship and the dignity of those who continue to stand tall despite immense challenges.
The Luxembourg Garden railings in Paris is hosting a moving and thought-provoking free outdoor photo exhibition entitled “Vivre Debout” (“Live Standing Up”), organized in partnership with Handicap International, from 20 September 2025 to 18 January 2026. The exhibition offers a rare and intimate look at the lives, struggles, and extraordinary resilience of people living with disabilities around the world.
Gérard Larcher, President of the French Senate, and Marie Ève Bugnet, Director of Handicap International France, inaugurated the exhibition, underlining the importance of recognizing not only the suffering but also the hope and determination embodied in these stories.
For more than 40 years, Handicap International has been at the forefront of humanitarian response, supporting some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Its mission is clear: to ensure dignity, inclusion, and independence for people with disabilities.
Some striking figures from their global work:
1,809,530 people assisted with emergency aid following wars, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises.
934,486 people supported with health, rehabilitation, and psychological care.
604,716 people provided with prosthetics and physical rehabilitation.
1,253,181 people helped through de-mining operations, risk education, and protection efforts in conflict areas.
733,362 people supported with social and professional inclusion programs.
Handicap International now runs 480 active projects in 58 countries, employing more than 5,280 collaborators worldwide, and has directly benefited over 3 million people. The organization was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its fight against anti-personnel mines, marking a historic recognition of its life-saving mission.
In a world marked by ongoing conflicts, natural disasters, and social inequalities, this exhibition reminds us of the urgent need to stand with people whose lives are forever changed by injury, disability, or exclusion. “Vivre Debout” is a call to acknowledge human resilience and to build a more inclusive and fraternal society.
