“I knew early on that I wanted to be a photographer.”

Hald was very young when she got accepted into the prestigious Danish School of Media and Journalism to study documentary photography.

“I really like images that are not staged and are very close”

Hald describes herself as a storyteller who primarily works in reportage series and portraits, bringing focus to strong women and marginalized groups.

“We have come to a place in history where my images of sex workers and fat activists are allowed to hang next to the kings and queens.”

Marie Hald was born in 1987 in Aalborg, Denmark, and studied photojournalism at The Danish School of Media and Journalism and later at The International Center of Photography, ICP in New York City.

Marie Hald has won a World Press Photo Award, The Danish Picture of the Year, and many other international prizes for her long-term project documenting the life of a Danish mother working in the sex industry. Hald has exhibited at museums such as Haus der Photographie der Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, and the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo.

In 2018, she exhibited her first solo exhibition, ‘A New Me’ 2018, at Fotografiska, The Swedish Museum of Photography, and has been featured as one of the six new talents worldwide discovered by the World Press Photo Foundation. In 2022/23 she published the book ‘FEMININ’ and opened the solo exhibition ‘Marie Hald – Exposed’ at The Museum of National History, Denmark. Marie Hald lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Marie Hald was interviewed by Helle Pagter in April 2023. The interview took place in Marie Hald’s studio in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Camera: Jakob Solbakken

Edited and produced by: Helle Pagter

Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2023

Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling.