artists we love :: lucille reyboz, photographer

I had the pleasure of meeting Lucille about five years ago through a dear friend and we hit it off instantly. At the time she had just finished a book on the Batammaba tribe from Togo. Their name means “the true architects of the earth” and rightly so. She was able to capture their beautiful practice of building from natural materials with community hands as tools. Their architecture is not only striking but practical. She told me how the chief had welcomed her and ceremoniously “adopted” her into their village, which didn’t surprise me at all. Lucille is able to instantly connect through her honesty and kindness, put people at ease and inspire them all in one conversation. She has since found the funding to build a children’s school for the Batammaba that celebrates their true artistry and local traditions.

The project that followed for Lucille was a series of women at onsen (Japanese natural hot springs) for a solo show in NY’s Phillips de Pury. She asked me to create a soundscape for it and to DJ the opening which was a real treat for me. Lucille creates magic and this exhibit was a clear indication of her powers. Needless to say, the photos were gorgeous, the traditional tea ceremony and dinner she organized were sublime. I knew that I had to experience an onsen soon.

A couple of years later, on my first DJ trip to Japan, I did. I met with Lucille as she was moving into her new Tokyo home. She was just as inspiring and magical as the other times we’d met. Thanks to her, onsen was my only request while in Japan and it was just as perfect as I had imagined.

Yesterday, I received an email from Lucille announcing her new web site. It’s perfect timing for Women’s Month on FWL because she is a “woman’s woman” whose talent and insight is communicated through every photograph so take time to look through it. Lucille is definitely one of the Friends We Love. – Moni Pineda

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 11:53 AM and is filed under FWL BLOG and tagged with architecture, artists, Artists We Love, batammaba, dj moni, friends we love, friendswelove.com, love, lucille reyboz, mike vargas, moni pineda, new, nuyorktricity, onsen, phillips de pury, photographer, photography, production company, togo, video producers, web series. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.