Mohamed Ould Lambede

Mohamed Ould Lambede

I love working on my upcoming show at Art Produce, "Lucy, Darwin and Me". I did not yet really talk in this blog about the content of the show, but there is a page in my website.

This show makes me work on a series of drawings, on a mural, find solutions for all sorts of problems I never worked on before, like taking care of different techniques at the same time.

I went through a lot of old slides, it brought back beautiful memories from my teen years. The show is also a tribute to my father. This tribute is not nostalgic, but rather energetic and uplifting for me. I hope it will be the same for the viewers.

So the other day I was trying to remember the name of our guide, the Tuareg that helped us find the places my father wanted to go in the middle of nowhere, in the Saharan desert. I emailed my mother in Marseille and asked her, she did not remember either. She gave me the email of one of my father's colleague, another geologist, Bernard Simon.

And, magic of the internet, Bernard, whom I did not see since he was working with my father in Africa 30 years ago, answered to me in the following hour. Beautiful email. He attached a few interesting pictures that I never saw before. He told me he was actually writing about that period, when they were in Africa, and "free" he says. Now he is retired and sent me some "snowy kisses" from the cold mountains in France, where he lives.
So the name of our guide is Mohamed Ould Lambede.



Here are my father (with the hat) and Bernard Simon, they used to re-play some scenes of the spaghetti western when they were going in the desert.


My father (left) and Bernard Simon



Bernard Simon and the Renault 4CV, the first car my father had in Africa, before he used the Land Rover from the University. They went to the desert with that car. The nice thing is, when the car was stuck in the sand, it was not heavy to lift! But it got stuck often.

photos: courtesy B. Simon.

"Lucy, Darwin and Me"
Art Produce Gallery
Opening reception: December 12, 2009