moom bookshop

In a very short space of time, Geert Broertjes lost the most important women in his life. His aunt, grandmother and mother passed away. He shared his grief with his girlfriend, who became a recurring theme in this series. But even this relationship ended, a couple of months after his mother passed.

Broertjes photographed the process instinctively. It was only afterwards that he noticed the coherence of his work. It became a poetic story about love, loss and grief. The beautiful photographs, all shot analogue in raw black and white, reveal the dark feelings he experienced during this intense period in his life.

“As I put the finishing touches to this book, my father has been diagnosed with cancer for the third time. This time it doesn’t look too good. It means that I will soon no longer have a safe haven. And before I’ve had time to take in the news, I myself have to be admitted urgently to hospital. While the specialists discuss my case, I feel the sensation of leaving my body, and from above I am able to observe the scene below, which seems to have nothing to do with me. First my father and then my mother; and now I too have been struck by the illness in its hereditary form. A B film with a disastrously bad script and an ambiguous ending. A film I’m in the middle of as I write.” – Geert Broertjes.