Villages of West Africa Slide Lecture & Photography Exhibition

An ancient land of stark contrasts, West Africa is home to the Sahara Desert, Timbuktu, fabled places at the edge of the world, camel caravans traversing boundless sand dunes in searing heat. West Africa is also home to the Niger River, third largest river in Africa. As Cathi told us, “Life unfolds along its shores in small villages with beautiful mosques, humble homes, women washing, children playing. Long narrow boats carry wares, harvests, animals, passengers, and fish to the great markets that link these isolated places into one community, one humanity.”

The photography is jaw-dropingly stunning, and the excitement and fascinating discoveries the Houses convey in their presentation promise to leave us talking about this event for a long time to come. It is a visual feast and an introduction, not only to these remote, rarely visited villages, but also to the House’s unique and inspiring vision. As architects, professional photographers, and poets, they present a memorable program.

The Houses are the authors of four books including Mediterranean Villagesand Houses in the Sun. Dedicated to their own continuing education through travel, Cathi and Steven acknowledge the profound influence their exposure to cultures around the world has had on their professional work. “We are contemporary California and Mexico architects,” says Cathi, “and our travels to remote villages around the world continue to be our prime source of our continuing education, inspiration and personal growth, renewing our work, our visions, ourselves, allowing us to let go of preconceptions, see the world with clear eyes, and search beyond the limits of our own imagination. We don’t really think in terms such as ‘style.’ We learn from what we experience and bring the essence into our work. It never affects the ‘look’ of our work, but always the ‘soul’ of it.”