Charlotte Abramow (BE, 1993)

Somewhere between documentary storytelling and surreal tale, this visual and poetic narrative resonates as a timeless tribute from Belgian photographer Charlotte Abramow to her father, Maurice. For the first time, this intimate work takes the form of an immersive exhibition, presented at Hangar.

Maurice was the very first model Charlotte photographed in a studio. At 17, she already sensed that photography would guide her life, without imagining that her father would later become the heart of her first book. Published in 2018 thanks to the support of 777 contributors, MAURICE, Tristesse et rigolade came to life after Maurice’s death, who would never see its release.

Seven years later, Charlotte Abramow revisits this project with renewed strength. Through this exhibition, she rekindles the memory of an extraordinary man: a doctor, a teacher, a Jewish child hidden during the war—but above all, a father full of tenderness, wit, and imagination. Drawing from family archives, the exhibition unfolds a deeply human story, balancing humor and emotion.

Can we say Maurice’s life ended on a high note? If love is the measure, then surely, yes. Faced with illness and the aftermath of a post-anoxic coma, Charlotte transformed hardship into creation. Together, father and daughter invented a new language—gestures, glances, silent complicity... Maurice’s gaze, captured by the photographer, becomes both mirror and messenger. He is the muse, she the artist. Together, they wove an intimate, enchanting, luminous tale.

MAURICE, Tristesse et rigolade is the story of an unbreakable bond, of a love that refuses to fade. A story of transmission, of artistic revelation. Did Maurice know that in those suspended moments, between laughter and tears, his daughter was taking her first steps as an artist? And that by offering himself to her lens, he was passing on a treasure—the gift of self-discovery, of creation, and of building a profoundly personal work.

- Delphine Dumont, director of Hangar