Attemts at inheriting
Boglárka Éva Zellei
I am a young East-Central European Christian woman artist. For me, this series over the years is an experimental field where I can always redefine my relationship with my identity. I am collecting impressions of my cultural environment and heritage which are shaping this bittersweet connection. Born in the years after the fall of communism, I carry with me the chaotic religiosity of that period. After becoming disappointed in traditional religiosity, I continued this spiritual quest alone, which also became an artistic one. Spirituality and creation are intertwined in my personal life and also my in connection with society, I visualize the dialogue of these areas through the pictures. These unique local images and churches tell stories about the history and bizarre yet rich religious culture of this post-communist region. Sometimes I discover my own inner world in them, just as my self-portraits reflect my spiritual journey. Through the act of image-making and performative gestures, I seek to reinterpret this worn-out heritage.
Boglárka Éva Zellei is a photographer and visual artist based in Budapest, Hungary. Her work is concerned with contemporary spirituality in a culture where religion is often misinterpreted and overused. Her aim is to reveal more connections within contemporary culture by exploring deeper desires of a person or communities. For her, the process of creation is also a source of spiritual growth, through processing and pushing her limits, and above all, an important space for dialogue.
Zellei studied Photography at the University of Kaposvár and received her MA in Photography at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest in 2017. In 2016 she studied as a visiting student at Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Besides Hungary, she was represented in exhibitions in Berlin, London, Vienna, Kanazawa, Breda, and Monopoli. Her works were published in several magazines, for example on the cover of HANT Magazine für Fotografie, in The Guardian, Spiegel Online, IMA Magazine (JP) and C41 Magazine (IT).
In 2020 she earned the 3-year scholarship of Hungarian Academy of Fine Art. In 2018 the artist was a New East Photo Prize finalist, a Prix Pictet nominee, and earned the Pécsi József Photography Grant. She won the third prize of Different Worlds competition in 2017.