Marija Budimirovic Pontet (b. 1981, Belgrade) is a Serbian-French photographer working between documentary, street photography, and fine art, based in Paris. Her relationship with photography began early, shaped by her grandfather — a photojournalist and aviation reporter during World War II. In 1999, at eighteen, she photographed the streets of Belgrade during the NATO bombing, an experience that profoundly shaped her understanding of the image as both witness and emotional archive. After studying art and photography, she exhibited and published her work in Belgrade between 2000 and 2003 before moving to Paris in 2003. For nearly two decades, photography remained a quiet but constant presence alongside other professional paths. Returning fully to her artistic practice in recent years, she developed a body of work centered on memory, disappearance, fragility, transformation, and the traces left by time and illness on both places and bodies. Working primarily in black and white, her images move between documentary reality and poetic ambiguity. Through blur, shadows, reflections, and nocturnal atmospheres, she explores moments suspended between presence and absence. Her recent work has been featured in international publications and exhibitions, including Street Photography France, Divide Magazine, and exhibitions in Paris and New York. Selected recognition and publications: — Honorable Mention, PISPA Street Poetry/Essay, 2025 — Honorable Mention, B&W Photojournalism, International Photo Awards, 2026 — Published in Street Photography France — Women Special Edition, 2026 — Published in Street Photography France Tome 1, 2026 — Featured in Street Photography France Revue, 2026 — Published in Divide Magazine Issue 17, 2026 — Exhibition, Monad NYC, Paris, 2026 — Group Exhibition, Tribeca / One Art Space, New York City, 2026 “My images don’t shout; they listen.”