In 2005, the Convent Minderbroedersklooster in Ghent was closed. The last monks and priests from the Franciscan order disappeared into retirement homes.

Photographer Lieve Blancquaert took a series of pictures of the intact house, which inspired Erwin Mortier to write a brilliant series of poems. They may be images of forgotten and abandoned objects, but they are not sad images. A button box, filled to the brim. An oft-used bar of soap on an old-fashioned kitchen counter. A made-up single bed. And, perhaps most tellingly: a yellowed spot on the wall where a crucifix must have hung for decades.

The texts and the pictures complement each other perfectly: they seem to comment on each other while also being able to speak for themselves separately.

You can order the book here: https://www.debezigebij.nl/boek/uit-een-vinger-valt-men-niet/