Opened on 4 November at Hegyvidék Gallery in Budapest, as part of the Photo Month 2022 event series, Catches of Light is Enikő Gábor’s retrospective that takes a look at a career of thirty years. We asked the artist, who works at the interface between painting and photography, about the works on view and her plans for the future.
Balogh Rudolf Prize-winning photographer Zsolt Péter Barta works on the borderline between photography and visual art, and has published his work in two albums (CodeX, 2007 and Csarnok, 2009). Among other things, we spoke with the artist about the problems and accomplishments of contemporary Hungarian photography, as well as the role of institutions in this country and abroad.
Yelena Yemchuk is a unique and multitalented artist who is not only a photographer but also a painter and video artist. The Kiev born photographer emigrated to the United States with her parents at the age of 11 but her Ukrainian roots have always been a key part of her life and a source of inspiration. Her book, УYY, published in 2022 by Depart Pour L’Image, functions kind of personal diary that gives an insight into the photographer’s personal world and her feelings for her homeland. The book from which a selection is presented on the walls of PaperLab Gallery was nominated for the Paris Photo/Aperture First book Prize in 2022 and this year won the first prize in Best International Photobook category of the PHotoESPAÑA festival.
Andreas Laszlo Konrath’s work is a modern blend of personal expression and social documentation. Through his documentation of the world as he knows it, his distinctive style has become an integral part of his authentic and visceral portrait photography. His portfolio is full of iconic characters and everyday heroes. But whether he’s photographing celebrities or young people on skateboards, analogue processes are at the forefront of his image-making.
What lies behind the deeply intimate and private images of this young Canadian-Hungarian photographer? With over one million followers on Instagram, Petra F. Collins is one of the most influential young photographers of our time. An artist and model in one, a kind of Warholian character. The main subject of her images is adolescence, with its idealized beauty and naivety, and the different realities of femininity. She shoots her emotional, dreamlike photographs on film, imbued with a dark sadness.
The photography grant created for commemorating the photographer, professional writer and photography teacher József Pécsi (1889–1956), was founded by the Ministry of Culture and Education in 1991. Its purpose is to help to start the career, creative work, and development of talented photographers working as independent artists, and to provide them with favorable conditions for the creation of high-quality artworks which are modern both in terms of form and content.
Dávid Biró’s work Do You Accept Cookies? examines the mechanisms of facial recognition systems. The series could hardly be more topical, as the face is taking over the role of the fingerprint thanks to the latest technologies. More and more people are using phones that can be unlocked by scanning their face, and cameras in public places are increasingly using facial recognition for crime prevention and law enforcement reasons.
A year has passed without me actually realizing it was over. A year has passed, and everything has happened with actually „nothing” happening. Seemingly, of course. But actually, this was a very important year. It has restructured many lives, just as it has mine.
