A great-grandfather who was a baker in Cameroon, a father who set off on an adventure to practise at the hospital in Bamako and stayed to complete his thesis in ophthalmology, and a childhood spent first in Mali and later in Senegal: it was written in the stars that Lucille Reyboz's life would be entwined with Africa, and that is precisely what has happened.
She has often returned to Africa, camera in hand. As a result of her photojournalism work and touring with various artists (she has produced a large number of record covers for well-known singers), her passion led her to Togo and Benin in 1999 to meet the Tamberma people. Since then, numerous publications and exhibitions (including the Visa pour l'Image festival in 2001) have demonstrated Lucille's passion for these "architects of the Earth", whose housing, designed to put man back at the centre of his environment, is not without similarity to another civilization altogether, which she also knows well through her work: Japan – a country characterized both by its stress levels and its traditions, its gadgets and its collective memory – that has also understood how to preserve its relationship with what is fundamental.
This is precisely what Lucille's project is all about: visiting Japan in three different seasons of the year to establish parallels, both cultural and religious, with the Tamberma. We bet Lucille will have paid quite a few visits to these people in their village. She has her own house there – a tata – and a nickname, "Tempé", which translates as "the third daughter"!

Achievements since winning the grant
Lucille produces covers for several record labels. She has also completed Tata, an hour-long documentary filmed in northern Togo.