Flood Me, I'll be Here

András Zoltai (1990, Szentes) is a documentary photographer, visual storyteller, and National Geographic Explorer based in Budapest, Hungary. He studied photojournalism at the Academy of the National Association of Hungarian Journalists. Specializing in socially and environmentally critical issues, he strives to blend journalistic and conceptual approaches in his documentary narratives. Since 2021, he has worked on environmental stories along the River Brahmaputra in India. This experience made Zoltai realize the urgency of addressing the water crisis in his homeland, Hungary, a landlocked country abundant in water. His current long-term project, "Blue Memoir," focuses on water issues and its isolation on physical, social, and spiritual levels in a Central European country that is supposed to be a water superpower. His approach explores the fragile and vulnerable relationship between humans and water through encounters and memories from his homeland, while also addressing how climate change and human negligence affect this most precious resource and the quality of life surrounding it. He has been working on this project since 2022. His work has been published in numerous international publications such as the Washington Post, Fisheye Mag, Libération, El País, and Le Monde, among others. He has been awarded the national József Pécsi Photography Scholarship three times and was the first recipient of the Carmencita–Kodak Grant and also got nomination to Leica Oskar Barnack Award and Joop Swart Masterclass. He is a talent of the European FUTURES platform and proud member of NOOR Academy Alumni.