Denis Darzacq was born in 1961, and took his first photographs as a child on a trip to Italy. When he developed them, he discovered that light hadn't reached his film and the memories of his holiday had disappeared. As a student at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, he took up photography to continue with his lost images.

He started a documentary practice. He followed the French rock scene making music videos. Then he became a film set photographer and worked on a number of feature films, alongside Satyajit Ray, Jacques Rivette, and Chantal Akerman in particular. He worked regularly with the Libération newspaper from 1989. In the 90s, he started using photography as art and became a member of the VU agency in 1997.

Denis Darzacq produces many photographic series, as well as video installations. He has retained a sharp view of contemporary society from his time working as a press photographer. Through his pictures, he presents a critic of the difficulties and stigmatisations certain encountered by marginal groups, living in at risk situations (Bobigny centre-ville, 2004) or with disabilities (Act, 208-11).

He creates images relying on the principle of disruption: his series stage bodies that upset the order of things or show social constraints and contradictions, by their behaviour of postures (Nu (Nude) 2003, La Chute (The Fall) 2006, Hyper, 2010, Act, 2011). In itself, Darzacq considers the human body like a social sculpture.

From 2015 he started looking at techniques using volumes and cut-outs. He created works with the ceramist Anna Iris Lüneman (Doublemix, 2014-15), then started photographing his own fleeting sculptures. His most recent work continues with this sculptural work, through photo prints he cut outs and rearranges, flat and with volume.

The works of Denis Darzacq are exhibited in France and internationally, in China in particular (Wuhan, Beijing). He is represented by the Galerie RX in Paris, as well as by the Laurence Miller Gallery in New York and the Soto Gallery in Los Angeles. His work is also present in the collections of the Centre Pompidou.

In 2020, the Fondation Matmut proposed a full retrospective of his work. In 2021, he is exhibiting his most recent creations at Galerie RX in Paris. His film « La Visite – Le Musée du Louvre » is presented as part of the 5th edition of the Month of French Culture in Cuba (18-31 May 2021). This event is organised by the French Embassy and the Alliance française in Cuba.