Michel Lafleur (b.1981, Port-au-Prince, Haiti) and Tom Bogaert (b.1966, Bruges, Belgium) are two artists who work together as the collaborative art duo Lafleur & Bogaert. They began creating art together in 2013 when they met at the 3rd edition of the Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Lafleur & Bogaert gained international recognition for their acclaimed projects with Atis Rezistans / Ghetto Biennale at documenta 15 in the St. Kunigundis church, receiving enthusiastic praise from both international and local media. In 2023, their work contributed to Atis Rezistans / Ghetto Biennale being awarded Exhibition of the Year by the International Association of Art Critics in Germany.
In 2024, their participation in the Watou Arts Festival in Belgium was noted as one of the festival’s highlights. Later that year, the artists presented their documenta 15 project, ‘Famasi Mobil Kongolè’, at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City, USA.
At the invitation of Sammy Baloji, Lafleur & Bogaert participated in the 2024 edition of the Biennale of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their subsequent retrospective exhibition at the Verbeke Foundation in Belgium featured selected collaborative works spanning from 2013 to the present, as well as a special presentation of their recent ‘J’aime RD Congo’ project, created for the Biennale de Lubumbashi.
Lafleur & Bogaert are honoured to be recipients of a 2024 project subsidy from the Flemish government in Belgium. In addition, they have been named 2025 Artistic Research Initiative (ARI) Fellows, supported by the Mellon Foundation at Duke University in the United States. Looking ahead, Michel Lafleur and Tom Bogaert are excited to announce their participation in the 2025 Art Omi Artists Residency in upstate New York and their upcoming debut solo exhibition at Frosch&Co Gallery in New York City, set to open in October 2025.
Michel Lafleur began his painting career as an apprentice to a decorator of Tap-Taps, the ornately painted pickup trucks that serve as public transportation all throughout Haiti. He is now responsible for decorating many of the most spectacular barbershops in his neighborhood.
Tom Bogaert came to art after a career as a refugee worker with the United Nations and Amnesty International. At the age of 38, he gave up his legal career to settle in New York as an artist. He has exhibited internationally—mainly and proudly in artist-run and non-profit venues.
Exhibitions
2025
︎︎︎De/Reconstruction – 18th International Triennial of Textile – Łódź, Poland
︎︎︎Lafleur & Bogaert – Frosch&Co Gallery – New York City, US (solo)
︎︎︎Atis Rezistans – BK House – New Orleans, US
︎︎︎Kanaval Zanzèt Yo – 8th Ghetto Biennale – Ellesmere Port, UK
︎︎︎Residency – Art Omi – Ghent, US
︎︎︎Social Practice Lab – Nasher Museum of Art – Durham, US
2024
︎︎︎Atis Rezistans / Ghetto Biennale – Utah Museum of Contemporary Art – Salt Lake City, US
︎︎︎Lafleur & Bogaert – Verbeke Foundation – Kemzeke, Belgium (solo)
︎︎︎Landscape of the Imagination – Watou Arts Festival – Watou, Belgium
︎︎︎Toxicity – 8th Biennale de Lubumbashi – DR Congo
2023
︎︎︎Ghetto Biennale – RISING – Melbourne, Australia
︎︎︎Summer Exhibition – Verbeke Foundation – Kemzeke, Belgium
︎︎︎Lafleur & Bogaert – Picha Art Center – Lubumbashi, RD Congo
2022
︎︎︎Lumbung – documenta fifteen – Kassel, Germany
︎︎︎What if not the World? – Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany
︎︎︎Swen Moun – 7th Ghetto Biennale – Port-au-Prince, Haiti
2019
︎︎︎The Haitian Revolution – 6th Ghetto Biennale – Port-au-Prince, Haiti
︎︎︎Creative Mosaic – Plaxall Gallery – Queens, NY
︎︎︎Wide Open – BWAC – Brooklyn, NY
︎︎︎Art at the Residency – Consulate General of Belgium – New York, NY
2018
︎︎︎Projects – Pulse Art Fair – Miami, FL
2017
︎︎︎A Cartography – 5th Ghetto Biennale – Port-au-Prince, Haiti
2015
︎︎︎Forms of Resistance – 4th Ghetto Biennale – Port-au-Prince, Haiti
2013
︎︎︎Decentering – 3rd Ghetto Biennale – Port-au-Prince, Haiti