Who do you call family? And how do you record your personal history? We all use photography to sketch a picture of our family and pass on stories to future generations. For the exhibition Families, we delve into the FOMU collection in search of family photographs.

You will discover historical photo albums and photographs by contemporary artists who challenge the traditional family portrait. These artists and photographers explore the complexity and sometimes discomfort of family relationships. They rewrite history and create intimate photographs that are often missing from the classic photo album. This creates a dialogue between the past and the present, between what we cherish and what we dare to question. ​

Niña Weijers writes personal texts on the theme of family.

Every year, FOMU invites an artist to reflect on the collection. Especially for this exhibition, author Niña Weijers has written ten personal texts on the theme of family. At a time when motherhood, the nuclear family and the idea of “chosen family” are being widely discussed, Families offers a surprising perspective on a theme that affects us all: family.

Participating artists

With more than 200 photographs from the FOMU collection by artists including: Hélène Amouzou, Emmy Andriesse, Diane Arbus, Cecil Beaton, Henri Becker, Henri Beng, Livinius Jacobus Beniest & Son, Léon Bovier, Camille Orso Caël, Tom Callemin, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lynn Cohen, Bieke Depoorter, Omar Viktor Diop & Lee Shulman, Mike Disfarmer, Robert Doisneau, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Mayara Ferrão, Charles Froelich, Seiichi Furuya & Christine Furuya-Gössler, Henri Geirland, Gustave Ghuys, Victor Guidalevitch, René Guiette, Sunil Gupta, Jitka Hanzlová, Eikoh Hosoe, Peter Hujar, Bernard Jacobs & Cie, Lebohang Kganye, William Klein, Mous Lamrabat, Youqine Lefèvre, Vuyo Mabheka, Diana Markosian, Amatus Harry Nevejans, Giulia Niccolai, Bernard Plossu, Emile Pochet, Jacques Joseph Prévot, Marc Riboud, Paul Sano, Jacob van Crewel (Jeune), Bertien van Manen, Léopold Vanderstraeten, Edward Walton (Fils), Edouard Wettstein, Carmen Winant, Ugo Woatzi…and all anonymous creators and families.