Hugues Lawson-Body Or The Art Of Writing With Light Pt.1
Portrait Of A Real Parisian
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As part of my obsession with debunking the Parisian myth, I am bringing you, in two parts, the story of a Parisian man who isn’t a cinema cliché. I am speaking about that Parisian man who is an artist, albeit poor but lives in the most ludicrous Haussmanien flat, knows Baudelaire by heart, and always has a complicated love story with his much more famous alter ego: the Parisian woman. Today is thankfully not about that, but rather about a Parisian who tells Paris like none other. Through his lens, Hugues Lawson-Body captures Paris in a way that is romantic yet not cliché. his Instagram profile is a testimony to his love for the people making Paris, as he enjoys snapping/filming their daily life.
When Naïfs Magazine commissioned me to interview him, I literally fell out of my chair as I have been following Hugues’ work for a long time. It was a pleasure to get to know his story as a Parisian man because French media rarely highlight - not to say never - Parisians who are not famous. Though in his field, Hugues is well-known, he is not the photographer and Parisian man that you will see on the covers of magazines when his contribution to the culture and body of work makes him the ideal candidate. That is precisely why I was lucky enough to write his cover story for Naïfs Magazine.
Despite having a low profile, Hugues is a fixture in the Parisian cultural and fashion scene. His name might not ring a bell, but if you are a fashion enthusiast, you sure have heard of Colette, the much-celebrated and iconic Parisian concept store founded by the mother-daughter duo Colette Rousseaux and Sarah Andelman. Colette was synonymous with Parisian style, culture and fashion, as the store brought the most interesting brands and creatives together until it closed in 2017. Hugues, along with his sister Eliane, were the ones who directed Colette, Mon Amour - the documentary celebrating the concept store as it was closing down through interviews with people like Virgil Abloh, Pharrell Williams, and Kanye West.
Hugues is, by definition, “Le Parisien,” hence why I wanted to bring his story to you. The first instalment of his interview focuses on:
his beginnings
the Paris of the 80s and 90s
the burgeoning French hip-hop and rap scenes (there are plenty of names in the article that I invite you to google or look for the artists mentioned on YouTube to get an idea of the scene)
Hugues Lawson-Body describes himself as a mediocre writer, yet he is actually an outstanding storyteller. The 45-year-old photographer’s soft and sweet voice makes it easy to get carried away.
Listening to him telling his life story means diving into his adolescence. When he was a teenager, he began to create stories through photography by immortalising first his friends and then the burgeoning French rap and hip-hop scene in the 90s. At just 17, he had already captured those who would become the greatest names of the genres: Menelik, MC Solaar, Booba, Arsenik, the collectif Bisso Na Bisso, and so on. Hugues Lawson-Body is not just anyone, yet albeit an impressive journey, he speaks humbly about himself. The French, Togolese, and Parisian photographer - three identities that he claims out loud - captures Paris and its inhabitants far from the stereotypical image that relentless communication and marketing have been hammering us with for centuries. Hugues Lawson-Body’s attentive eye depicts the “city of love and fashion” with a realism imbued with unique beauty.
In the images he produces, we see Paris as it truly is on a daily basis, the city of all social classes, all the different Parisian neighbourhoods, the Parisian melting-pot of populations - in short, we are offered daring youth and Parisians facing Hugues’lens, as full and real people. Yet Hugues is not just any photographer - as a true lover of images - he is also a director. Ever since his early beginnings, he has been visiting the sets of music videos on which he has observed and learned a lot. He eventually tried to play the game of directing with the Barber Show a few years later, which turned out to be one of his two main projects with his book Jeunes Parisiens (The Youth of Paris).
I had to chase Hugues down because, as a father of two girls and a creative leading multiple projects, he was extremely busy. “I often go from one project to another. You see, I’m constantly on fire,” he confirms. But even after postponing our interview several times, I can’t blame him because he knows how to anchor the foundation of a pleasant and rewarding conversation immediately. Behind the screen that separates us, he introduces himself, wearing a mask before removing it and revealing a warm smile. He profusely apologises for having postponed our interview and promises to give me all his time. And that’s exactly what he does despite his parental obligations. This interview turns into a dialogue between some provincial girl coming from Bordeaux [me] and a Parisian, but it actually is more than a mere discussion since Hugues explains to me how we are all “a bit a reflection of our environment.”
Hugues begins with his childhood. He was born in Togo in 1977 and arrived in Paris in 1979. He grew up in the 4th arrondissement near the Pompidou Center. Places are crucial to him because they shape his vision, just like inspiring people does. He first takes me to the Freinet school where he studied. He describes an unusual educational system where social barriers tend not to exist and in which children are invited to cultivate their curiosity freely. In the French panorama, Freinet schools seem to differ from the republican institutional model that truly shapes brains according to specific standards. It is also in this place that Hugues quickly understood that being a professional artist was possible. “The Freinet institution gathers schools where parents and children are artists. I had friends whose parents worked as actors, directors of photography, directors, and photographers,” he says. It is also there that his sister friend's mother enabled him to meet the photographer Bettina Rheims, who, after having won the Grand Prix de la Photographie in 1994, has collaborated with main magazines such as Marie Claire, Elle, and L’Officiel, and is known for her images depicting sensual femininity on a Parisian background.
Hugues has, therefore, studied in a privileged environment, artistically speaking. Yet, speaking of school institutions, he actually trained himself as a photographer outside of the classroom. It wasn’t uncommon to run into him at the Maison européenne de la photographie (the European House Of Photography), which opened its doors near his school in 1996. There, he devoured books and images from Jean-Luc Monterosso’s immense collection.
It wasn’t rare to see him make his way through the pits of rap concerts where he said he was a photographer to be let in for free. Ever since he was 14 or 15 years old, Hugues has been a daring charmer: “I started with a lot of concert photos because I really like rap. That’s the music I grew up with. To finance my tickets, I told them that I was a photographer, which allowed me to have access to the pit, the first parts of shows, and especially to photograph the guys I saw as my idols. But the joke could only work once or twice with the publicist, as I had to find a way to publish those images.” Places, as mentioned above, have been an important part of Hugues’ journey, as have people. The rap world would later enable him to make encounters that would mark his career, such as the French-Vietnamese photographer Maï Lucas, who has finely documented the French hip-hop scene since 1986.
She has written a book called Hip Hop Diary Of A Fly Girl, which brings together photographs of emblematic places of the hip-hop scene in Paris, such as Ticaret, Globo, and Radio Nova - another fundamental place where Hugues developed a portfolio and network that continues to follow him nowadays - and figures who marked the middle of the 80s and 90s like Kery James, Stomy Bugsy or Doc Gynéco. It is, therefore, in this bubbling creative environment that Hugues evolved. As he became Maï Lucas’ assistant, he learned to master the light in his images. It is no wonder light holds a primordial place in his photographs.
On his website, the portraits he made for Levi’s LS1 shoe campaign are the perfect illustration of his artistic vision. One image, in particular, has caught my attention: the portrait of freelance stylist Leah Dy Angeles. The background reminds us of what the City of Light looks like on an autumn morning: dull without poetry. However, the stylist poses confidently, wearing an outfit with shades that harshly contrast with the grey background: a pink bonnet, a green bomber jacket, and a yellow dress with a revisited Vichy print worn on navy blue trousers with tennis stripes, the whole look is completed with the famous Levi’s LS1.
This portrait is already very attractive, yet Hughes’ expertise in the use of light sublimates Leah Dy Angeles’ beauty. The light illuminates the bomber jacket so that the spectator keeps an eye on Leah’s face. It then invites you to look at the outfit's details, and finally, it leads you back to this greyish fashion capital that suddenly seems to come back to life thanks to the stylish Parisians.
But let’s go back to Hugues’ journey. As his story progresses, I am increasingly convinced that he would not have had this trajectory if the charming, chatting teenager he was had disappeared because being in the right place at the right time is not just about chance; it is an art. And Hugues excels in this discipline. He easily cites the people who have marked his career, which is a subtle way of recalling that he is also this man and this artist, thanks to these encounters. Talking with Hugues is a way to realise he is deeply interested in people, in front of and behind the lens. He does not drop names; he rather talks about people who have influenced his personal and professional life. This is the case of movie and artistic director Thibault de Longeville, who introduced him to Olivier Cachin - founder and editor-in-chief of L’Affiche (a magazine that focused on rap and hip-hop), for which Hugues will have the opportunity to develop a column dedicated to young rappers. Thanks to his long-time friend, he got the opportunity to create album covers for the Neg Marrons and to get to know the French hip-hop and rap figures he would collaborate with later, such as Kenzy of the Ministère A.M.E.R, I.A.M, Rohff or the Fonky Family. From this ecstatic era, Hugues recalls: “These were the people I would collaborate with later on. It happened little by little, very naturally. It wasn’t intentional as it remains a small world where everyone knows each other.”
Hugues understood quickly that his work could be well paid: “I couldn’t project myself going on studying after graduation. I did register for a few universities, but it was more figurative than anything else to me; I was looking for status. I started working as a freelancer while I was still going to rap concerts at the end of middle school. I was evolving in an environment where my cousins were taggers, and my buddies were also in this dynamic creative world, so it made sense to me that I could step foot into this world as a professional. In high school, I had already met rappers who were about to become great names in this world. So, all this made me want to go fast.” Therefore, I was not surprised when he added: “If you want to be a professional photographer, you must start by taking as many pictures as possible. When people start their journey knowing they want to be professional photographers right away, they follow a direction, keeping in mind their work will be exhibited later on. You see, for me, it has been different. It has always been do it yourself and do it all the time.”
Original Text Emmanuelle Maréchal
Translated From French by Shaughna-Kay Todd
Get your copy of Naïfs Magazine here.
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Thanks for the introduction to his work! His IG profile is making me happy that I haven't deleted the app from my phone.
Writing with light, what a beautiful idea. I had not come across this artist before so thank you for this! Taking photos of Paris and Parisians without cliché is a huge job and I love the energy he seems to being to this work. I will follow him with interest from now on!