Artist
Balázs Fromm
Balázs Fromm (B.1991) is a photographer, currently living and working in Budapest. He studied photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, and new media at the CityUniversity of Hong-Kong, Hong-Kong. Fromm's field of work revolves around Eastern European topics, the historic legacy of socialism, the power of masculinity, local issues, and youth culture. His photographic approach involves documenting the disappearing working class of rural Hungary and it's gloomy industrial cities ( A city built of steel 2018-2022), and unveiling the non-conventional beauty norms and the precarious identity of the Z generation. ( East and Eden 2021) Guided by an intuitive sense of connection, Fromm captures the bonds of communities and their environment in the amidst of democratic backsliding, and rising nationalism throughout the region. He works regularly on documentary commissions, shedding light on regional stories for publications as Zeit and Republik, and many others. Balázs Fromm is part of the Studio of Young Photographers of Hungary. He received the Jozsef Pecsi photography grant from the state of Hungary in 2021. Presently, he is working on two ongoing photgraphic series, Casting and Csango Land.
CSANGO LAND
The word Csángó in the Szekler dialect originally means a wanderer. In terms of their identity, the Csángós are primarily the „easternmost” Hungarians, speaking a specific dialect of the Hungarian language, and are Roman Catholics, by faith. The Csángó ethnic group lives in the territory of present-day Romania, east of the Székely Hungarians and Transylvania, mostly in the counties of Bako and Nemc, but the diaspora is also scattered in Moldova and Ukraine. According to the official Romanian census data of 2002, only 5,000 people claimed to be Hungarian Csángó, but some national ethnologists believe that their actual number may exceed 10,000.
The homogeneous Csángó identity with the Székely has been less consistent since the regime change and, given the dispersion and the number of the ethnic group, is essentially disappearing. More recently, the political revisionism of the Romanian goverment, including linguistic and administrative measures imposed on the Csángós, has set the stage for the complete assimilation of the Hungarian Csángó minority in the region. The historical roots of their cultural traditions, religious customs, language and traditions are under threat.
In the course of my photographic project I documented the communities of the still Hungarian-speaking Csángó in Moldavia and Gyimes.
From Mountains and Soil
From Mountains and Soil is a work in progress photographic project. Traveling from Usghguli, the highest village in Europe, to Tbilisi, the capitol of Georgia there is only one road to take. Through my journey in the Caucasus, I’ve approached young Georgians, whom daily life of peace is currently under struggle, due to the closeness of Russia, its neigbouring state, the oppressor in the war in Ukraine. Inflation from sanctions, and the refugees fleeing from Russia leaves the nation in doubt. However, during these uncertain times, small communities and the identity of the local youth still carries on.
In her long-term works, Zsuzsa Darab explores personal themes often combining conceptual and experimental solutions. Deeply engaged with the subject of observation, she presents her questions and experience as a visual story. Often, she takes her own life as a starting point in dealing with the ‘first-life panic’ of her generation and the psychological processes of coming to terms with lived experience.
Balázs Fromm’s projects unfold against the backdrop of Middle and Eastern European countries where democracies are under pressure from the threat of impending war, rising nationalism and migration. He demonstrates an interest in the human condition, which is revealed through a mix of tender portraits and impressions of direct surroundings, resulting in a palette of atmospheric images expressing the challenges of a region faced with an uncertain future.
As an active photojournalist, Noémi Napsugár Melegh is able to step away from the ‘fly on the wall’ role of an impartial author we most often expect from press photography. The atmosphere of trust that she is able to create is palpable in her images, and although she is at the beginning of her photographic career, her images show a freshness of creativity that has the potential to be seeking new experimental paths.
The exceptional characteristics of Róbert Nunkovics’ work were evident from the very beginning of his praxis: he uses the tools of documentary photography to present topics related to his interest in authentic artistic expressions, typically outsider or vernacular and rooted in street art, graffiti culture and everyday life. The focus of his sensitive multimedia projects is usually a remarkable figure or a special place with a little-known story.
Boglárka Zellei combines the spiritual journey with the creative process and her artistic practice is guided by the experience and projection of spiritual processes. With her photographic-based installation works, she invites the viewer into an intense dialogue, drawing attention to fundamental questions of faith, while also bringing to the surface themes of spiritual resilience, as well as notions of judgement and acceptance.