Wegierski Instytut Kultury w Warszawie - Domem Fotografików Wegierskich Szabolcs BARAKONYI, Gabriella CSOSZÓ, Zoltán MOLNÁR, Lilla SZÁSZ Miedzy ludzmi / Between People wystawa zbiorowa/ collective exhibition czynne/ open: 06. July - 10. September 2007. Wegierski Instytut Kultury w Warszawie 00-517 Warszawa, ul. Marszalkowska 80 E-mail: hunginst@hunginst.pol.pl Tel: (48-22) 629-32-43/44, Fax: (48-22) 625-07-62 Kurator/ curator: Gabriella Csizek

Each of the four young Hungarian photographers chosen, follow a different artistic strategy for building up the universe they decided to present. All the photographs exhibited record relations between people, sometimes involving the artist itself. The differences embody in the distance, the artist keeps from his/her subject, and the position he/her decides to occupy in the picture.

Szabolcs Barakonyi’s series, just like most of his other published works, consists of images that look like as if they had been taken from a set of stage-photographs. According to his philosophy, the most important things in life happen every day, in an almost invisible, still recognizable way. His images of life feature people who are heroes of each other’s lives, but not the figures from the covers of magazines.
His actual series combine the attitude of the character with the attitude of the observer, with a hint of irony. He builds up the beauty of the realism of country-life from details on the verge of irrelevance. His powerful colours and compositions make life look magical, on the edge of the world, where life is not always merry.

Gabriella Csoszó presents the characters of her private life, the members of her family in her portrait-pairs. The relations between the parents with closed eyes, the brother and the artist herself are presented without the help of the “mirror of the soul”, solely by their meditative expressions, their quiet gestures toward each other. These people with their eyes shut bear very similar facial expressions that somehow emphasize the differences between them. This seemingly quite ordinary family portrait collection leads the spectator toward the questions of inner self, belonging, solitude, trust and exposure by showing an inward turning attention.

Zoltán Molnár made his photographs of Transylvanian romas from the position of the photographer arriving as an alien, and getting slowly acknowledged by the community. Distinct borders between the photographer and the photographed tend to dissolve on his pictures of the inhabitants made with great empathy. They talk in short sentences, with noble simplicity about the people presented and their surroundings. His method of making portraits is defined by the basic characteristics of his personality: his openness, his ability of a total attention toward the other, his tactfulness and his respect toward his subjects.

Lilla Szász in her series presenting female lives – just like her series about homeless mothers - constantly reflects on people whose future is fundamentally determined by their social situation. Her choice of subject is already a provocation of the indifference of society, the lack of courage to face the problem. Her photographs are always the parts of a common story, begun well before the exposition, and never ending in the photograph. Enlarged photographs are shown to its subjects, making way for further conversation, and the further forming of the photograph by dialogue. Her photographs do not only talk about those on the picture, but always relate the connection between the subjects, and its emotional contents.

Going through the exhibited works, you can find different artistic attitudes ranging from the curious outsider to the photographer, who jumps into a situation with his/her entire personality. Fine parallels and marked differences between the artists give the spectator possibilities for a wide range of interpretations, while flashing us a few hints about how we are, and how we become the part of each other’s lives.

Gabriella Csizek
curator

photo: Gabriella Csoszó