André Lebeau - A dream comes to life

Taking up photography has brought the creative balance to André Lebeau's life that he's always been looking for. Although he only began exhibiting recently, he's been on the path to a more expressive life for many years.

Growing up in Hull, Quebec, André was always attracted to art. He was especially drawn to the creative life of Montreal, 160 km down the Ottawa River. He eventually decided to move to Montreal and he's been living here for 25 years.

André never learned the technical side of photography but he's always had an eye for striking images. However it was only last year when he returned from a trip to Europe, with the inspiration of its many museums, that he decided to exhibit for the first time. He realized his photographs have inherent beauty and he overcame his fear of showing them publicly.

It's only by chance that André discovered Ça décoiffe (map), the Montreal barber shop where he now shows his photographs in monthly group exhibitions. André was on his way to his old barber when he passed by Ça décoiffe on Papineau Avenue. He stepped inside and started chatting with the barber, Daniel Haché. Daniel's friendly nature and reassuring voice won André over, and within minutes Daniel was cutting André's hair. It wasn't long afterward that André plucked up his courage and submitted a photograph he'd taken in Barcelona to one of the group shows at the barber shop. He now participates in the exhibitions on a regular basis. He's grateful to Daniel Haché for giving him and so many other photographers the chance to express themselves.

André's partner, Denis Payette, has been an important influence in helping André to release his creative energy. Denis' openness of spirit has given André the confidence to explore the more provocative side of his personality. Besides starting to exhibit his photographs, André has begun to express himself through a dazzling array of tattoos. His first tattoo was a monkey on his hip. Then came a shell inspired by a pilgrimage he and Denis took along the Compostela Trail in Spain. Next was a pair of wings in André's groin in reference to a poem by Denis.

André assumed his fourth tattoo would be another small one. But his tattoo artist gave him time to decide on an image, and a year later André had a dream that was the inspiration for a larger tableau. The dream unfolded in a jungle in Costa Rica, where André and Denis had traveled. It was a liberating dream that made André more comfortable with his homosexuality. The main figure was a flying serpent soaring down a jungle valley where André was hiding. André associated the flying serpent with the quetzal, a Central American bird that is significant in Aztec and Mayan mythology. André decided he wanted to represent his dream in a tattoo, and that became the inspiration for the large jungle scene that is still unfolding across the contours of André's body.

André's partner Denis Payette writes regularly about life. You can read his reflections in the Hors-d'oeuvre et canapés littéraires section of his site.