In our series, in a thematic selection, we show artworks, which were made with the support of the Pécsi József Photography Grant. The fourth subject is Asian countries. Syria, Afghanistan, Tibet, Japan – a journey from Central Asia to the Far East, through the largest continent of the world, through the photos of Hungarian photographers Lenke Szilágyi, Zoltán Szabó, András Ridovics, and Balázs Gárdi.
“Lenke Szilágyi’s pictures let us know about the edges of stories, the slums of existence. She turns from the center, the representative, pre-constructed events, which dominate our lives, and searches the shades the far glimpse of stories, their paraselene, flitting and floating. She investigates neither the eternal nor the imposing, but the almost non-existing, which seems to on its last pins, which hides between to other moments.” (Forgács, Zsuzsa: From the Edge of the World. Beszelő, 13 January 1994, excerpt)
Lenke Szilágyi received the Pécsi József Photography Grant in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Have a look at the other photos of the series on the site of the Pécsi József Photography Grant!
Zoltán Szabó: Tibetian seasons
“I am thirty years old. I am an agricultural economist. I take photographs. I travel, whenever I can, and during my trips, I take snapshots: in India, Pakistan, Siberia, Guatemala. My pictures of the Lake Baikal and the Mayas won the special prize, as the best collection, at the Press Photo Competition in 1996. I live on my photos published in the press, from 1996 on I got the Pecsi Jozsef Photographic Scholarship. What my biography cannot include: that is the essence. I think we men have come to Earth to learn. To learn how we can find a home in it, under any circumstances. There are people who are successful, though they did not take the necessary steps. Just like my grandfather, who did not leave his own village for ninety years, yet he knew everything and died with a smile on his face. There are others who must depart, to feel abroad what at home is invisible. I must depart. I take photos of the moments noticed and lived to see in far countries.” (Zoltán Szabó, 1998)
Zoltán Szabó received the Pécsi József Photography Grant in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Have a look at the other photos of the series on the site of the Pécsi József Photography Grant!
“With this series I tried to approach everyday life in Japan through a personal and intimate relationship.” (András Ridovics, 2002)
András Ridovics received the Pécsi József Photography Grant in 2002. Have a look at the other photos of the series on the site of the Pécsi József Photography Grant!
Balázs Gárdi: Sándor Kőrösi Csoma
“Sándor Kőrösi Csoma is undoubtedly one of the greatest Hungarian travellers. He travelled by foot from Transylvania to India in search for Hungarians’ land of origins. He established the discipline of Tibetology and the Tibetan dictionary, he wrote in Calcutta, has been used by all dictionaries and linguistics since then. Numerous books and essays have been published about his life and travels, however, only a few photographers could work on the topic in detail. these works ere made in Central-Asia where he spent some years. His journey to Tibet led through countries highly influencing our world politics today, like Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The majority of these countries today and then were incredibly dangerous for a traveller. In my opinion, these cultures, more and more isolated from the world due to political and religious reasons, are an outstanding opportunity for the photographer to show and contradict doubts connected to these cultures, and commemorate the one greatest Hungarian traveller, Sándor Kőrösi Csoma.” (Balázs Gárdi, 2006)
Image source: catalogue of József Pécsi Photography Grant 2006.
Balázs Gárdi received the Pécsi József Photography Grant in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Have a look at the other photos of the series on the site of the Pécsi József Photography Grant!
Pécsi József Photography Grant Archive
“The purpose of the Pécsi József Photography Grant founded in 1991 was to ‘help to start the career, creative work, and development of talented photographers working as independent artists, and to provide them with beneficial conditions for creating high standard artworks, which are modern both in terms of form and content.’ […] An important element of the scholarship is that the artists selected by the jury present their series in a physical form. The most important aim of the archive to be compiled for the 25th anniversary of the Pécsi József Photography Grant is to make up for a deficiency of these two and a half decades: to present the works of art created in this period in a digital form, to make them accessible, visible and researchable. For the sake of completeness and accuracy, the archive is edited and updated continuously, and the descriptions of the series are published in English language as well.” (Judit Gellér, curator, the operator of the archive)
Pécsi 25. Pécsi József Photography Grant 1991–2016 – essays
On the 25th anniversary of the grant, in 2016, the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center organized the exhibition Pécsi 25, showcasing the works of previous grant recipients. Related to the exhibition, studies written by Judit Gellér, Attila Horányi, József Mélyi, Monika Perenyei, and Miklós Zsámboki were published. The book is available at Capa Center.
Have a look at the other selections from the Pécsi József Photography Grant as well!