By the time you enter the gallery space of the Esch Theatre, something feels deliberately dissonant. The walls are white, the light is soft, almost muted. It is a space of calm and restraint, hardly what one expects from an exhibition devoted to boxing. There is no roar of the crowd, no sweat-slicked ring, no theatricalised violence. And yet, everywhere you look, boxing is present. This tension is precisely where Mir Boxen begins.

Curated by filmmaker Alain Tshinza, Mir Boxen is built on contrast: between silence and impact, intimacy and spectacle, past and present. It invites us to look beyond the familiar clichés of the sport and instead encounter boxing as a human culture, one shaped by labour, migration and memory, particularly in Luxembourg’s southern mining region, the Minett.

At first glance, the photographs appear understated. A boxer wrapping his hands before a fight. Another sitting alone, head bowed. A coach gently kissing the forehead of a fighter moments before entering the ring. These are not images of victory or defeat, but of preparation, vulnerability and care. They sit uneasily, yet powerfully, against our expectations. As Patrick Raffaelli puts it, boxing is ‘extremely structured… the preparation is like a ritual before going into the ring. Everything is very well organised.’ What Mir Boxen reveals is how much of the sport exists outside the ring.

The exhibition brings together 40 black-and-white photographs spanning almost fifty years. Half are analogue images from the 1970s and 1980s by Remo and Patrick Raffaelli; the other half are contemporary digital photographs taken between 2023 and 2025 by Paulo Lobo. Rather than separating eras or authors, Tshinza deliberately mixes them. ‘The aim was to show the similarities and the differences between those two eras,’ he explains. ‘One is considered a golden era, the other a revival of the sport.’

This curatorial choice creates a visual flow: before the fight, during the fight, after the fight. The images speak to one another across time. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which photographs are vintage and which are contemporary. ‘You mainly recognise the difference because of the clothing,’ Patrick Raffaelli notes. ‘But in terms of the photograph itself, it is difficult to distinguish old images from new ones.’

That continuity is central to the exhibition’s argument. Boxing in Luxembourg did not begin in the 1970s, nor did it end in the 1980s. Its history stretches back more than a century. The first boxing club was founded in Luxembourg City in 1910; Esch-sur-Alzette followed in 1921. In the Minett, defined by blast furnaces, mines and workers’ struggles, boxing grew naturally from a culture of physical labour and endurance. ‘The miners lived in a rough environment,’ Tshinza says, ‘which ultimately would lead them to more physical sports like boxing or wrestling.’

While football would eventually eclipse boxing in popularity, particularly through local rivalries, clubs flourished across the south: Olympic Esch, BC Esch, Rou’de Léiw Differdange, BC Rodange, BC Dudelange and BC Rumelange. Inspired by international figures such as Max Schmeling and Marcel Cerdan, Luxembourg also produced its own champions. The 1960s marked a high point, crystallised by the 1965 European Championship in Limpertsberg between Ray Philippe and Bruno Visentin.

It was during this flourishing period that Remo and Patrick Raffaelli documented boxing with remarkable consistency. Their photographs, many of which appear in Mir Boxen, were not driven by sensationalism. ‘For me it was more about admiration for the athletes,’ Patrick explains. ‘Boxing is a very hard sport, especially the training.’ Working in black and white was an obvious choice then, dictated by analogue processes and newspaper printing, but it has become a defining aesthetic. ‘Black and white is photography,’ he says simply.

The decline came swiftly. From the 1980s onwards, boxing in Luxembourg lost visibility. Clubs closed, promoters disappeared, and other combat sports took centre stage. A final blaze of attention came with the 1980 European Championship between Fred Serres and Rudy Koopmans in Differdange, again photographed by the Raffaellis. Soon after, the rings fell quieter.

What Mir Boxen insists upon, however, is that silence is not absence.

The exhibition’s contemporary half documents a return. Today, boxing in Luxembourg is experiencing a modest but meaningful revival. In 2025, the Luxembourg Boxing Federation counted eight active clubs and around 300 fighters. The reopening of BC Esch in 2016 and BC Differdange in 2019 signals renewed momentum. ‘This exhibit is a tribute to past fighters and highlights the newer generation of boxers,’ Tshinza says. ‘These old boxers have a legacy that can inspire the younger generations.’

Photographer Paulo Lobo captures this renaissance with a gaze that is both documentary and poetic. Born in Portugal and raised in Differdange after emigrating as a child, Lobo has long worked on themes of memory, displacement and belonging. Boxing, however, was new terrain. ‘Until this project, boxing existed for me mainly on television and in cinema,’ he admits. ‘In reality, it is very different. There is a lot of respect. A whole ceremonial aspect.’

That respect shaped his photographic approach. Lobo was particularly drawn to the moments around the fight: the audience, the referees, the corridors, and above all the changing rooms. ‘In the changing rooms, the atmosphere is very calm and very silent,’ he recalls. ‘It felt almost like being in a library.’ His images avoid intrusion, favouring distance and discretion. ‘They are big, muscular men, but when you speak to them you realise how kind they are. The contrast is striking.’

One photograph, in particular, encapsulates this sensibility: a coach kissing the forehead of his boxer. ‘For me, it shows a strong human relationship within a violent environment,’ Lobo says. ‘Boxing is not only about masculinity.’ It is also about transmission, care and trust.

The exclusive use of black and white reinforces this ethical stance. ‘It’s a way of equalising both generations,’ Tshinza explains, ‘and even blurring the lines between past and present. Black and white brings everybody on the same field.’ It also reflects the photographers’ shared desire to focus on expressions and gestures rather than distraction or spectacle.

Underlying the exhibition is a broader social history. Immigration runs through Luxembourg boxing like a quiet undertone. Italian, Polish, Yugoslav, Portuguese and later African migrants all shaped the sport. ‘Many of the great Luxembourgish boxing champions were immigrants,’ Tshinza notes. Boxing offered structure, discipline, sometimes even survival. ‘Boxing was often a way out,’ Patrick Raffaelli reflects. ‘Today, people have more comfort and stability. That was not the case fifty years ago.’

If visitors leave Mir Boxen with a single idea, Tshinza hopes it is simple: ‘Boxing is love. Boxing is not a sport. It’s a culture.’ In the calm, white space of the Esch Theatre gallery, surrounded by images that whisper rather than shout, that message lands with quiet force.

Mir Boxen is displayed at the gallery of the Théâtre d’Esch until 29.01.2026. It is open Tuesday to Saturday, from 14:00-18:00.