In BRRRXL, Mathieu Van Assche places drawn creatures inside photographs of Brussels. Streets, architectural corners, pavements and bridges provide settings for figures that seem to wander through the city. The photographs establish recognisable urban space, while the drawings change how that space is read. A familiar street can become the setting for an encounter whose origin and purpose remain unexplained.

Van Assche makes both the photographs and the illustrations, so the relationship between the two media is the central act of authorship. The creatures occupy the gaps and edges of the built environment, inviting the viewer to look again at places that might otherwise pass unnoticed. Their presence allows an imaginative reading to coexist with the camera’s record. Rather than resolving the scene into a single story, the combination leaves room to consider how atmosphere and expectation affect our perception of a city.

Éditions Le Mulet published the French-language book in 2025, with an accompanying text by Emma Rcel. The 72-page volume measures 22.4 × 27 cm and is offset printed, with a hard cover, foil stamping and black page edges. These physical details give the publication a distinct presence as an object; the dark page edges also make a visual connection with the shadows and urban settings described in the work. In 2026, it received a special mention in the author-book category at the Rencontres d’Arles book awards.

For collectors, the attraction is the sustained exchange between photographic observation and drawing within a single city-based project. BRRRXL can be read alongside street photography and publications that combine images with illustration, asking what changes when an invented figure enters a recorded place. Its interest rests on that repeated act of re-seeing: the city remains recognisable, while its possible inhabitants and stories expand.