Nearly 50 life-size portraits that put a human face on the work of the United Nations are heading to Koekelberg, where they will open the municipality’s month of democracy.

The international photographic exhibition Shared Lives, Shared Future arrives on Koekelberg’s municipal square, where it will kick off a month celebrating democracy.

The opening takes place on Friday 23 October at 4:00 pm on the Place Henri Vanhuffel. Delegations from the UN, the City of Brussels and Koekelberg itself will join the ceremony for the official raising of the United Nations flag and the inauguration of the exhibition.

Through its portraits, the exhibition shows what international solidarity and democracy look like in practice, from supporting agriculture in Afghanistan to protecting the Sonian Forest in Belgium.

Created for the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, the exhibition was first presented at UN Headquarters in New York in 2025, with the support of Switzerland, Slovenia and Italy. This summer, it was hosted in the heart of Brussels by the City of Brussels and the Swiss representations in Belgium and to the European Union.