At the invitation of the Budapest Gallery to exhibit our work at both of the gallery’s locations in 2009, we returned to Budapest several times with our cameras and traveled throughout various regions of Hungary. Through my photo poems, I strive to gain a deeper understanding of the culture and way of life of our Hungarian neighbors. As an artist, it was not difficult for me to take an interest in and explore the work of our Hungarian colleagues. Most of their sensibilities, opportunities, and motivations are easily understandable to me as well, and they have helped me greatly in getting closer to our neighbors’ social networks and structures, as well as to the visual manifestations of these structures. Since I cannot understand people’s language, I try to glean as much as possible from their visual language. Thus, condemned to a state of partial silence—since one can, after all, make oneself understood time and again in German or English even in Hungary—I am forced to compensate for my communication deficit by devoting greater attention to interpreting gestures and visual cues. I often take spontaneous photographs of phenomena I experience firsthand, without having interpreted them in advance. Gentle interpretation or suggestion sometimes takes place in poetically strung-together series of images. However, these do not seek to capture impressions or feelings; rather, we wish to encourage the viewers of these visual poems to form their own associations.
Geographical proximity, many years of coexistence, and close cultural and political ties have fostered numerous similarities between the people of the two countries. At the same time, it has managed to retain its appeal for us—an appeal that may seem different, and in some ways foreign or even exotic, to our neighbors and friends. We enjoy visiting Hungary because we feel at home there, just as we enjoy visiting Italy or Croatia. Over time, mutual invitations and exhibitions have forged even stronger friendships, which have further fostered mutual understanding.
For me, it’s always an exciting challenge to wander through and explore parts of Hungary that are less familiar to me, to enjoy our neighbors’ excellent cuisine and fine wines, and to take photos or shoot videos here and there. My friend Tibor Várnagy, for example, not only drew my attention to countless beautiful and important aspects of his city, Budapest, but also gave me a small book as a gift last year. Béla Hamvas’s essay, “The Philosophy of Wine,” immediately captivated me, and I eagerly immersed myself in the world of the poet and philosopher. My reading was followed by a trip to some of the wine regions in this beautiful country that Béla Hamvas writes about. On this journey—guided by another good friend of ours, Lajos Adamik—I was able to bring home not only a few bottles of excellent wine but also some beautiful photographs and video footage. I was able to enter the homes of artists and take photographs in their private gardens, both large and small. Thanks to the kind guidance and mediation of my friends, I was thus able to see and experience many things that I would otherwise have been unlikely to encounter.
This catalog presents a small selection of the photographs taken during my travels in Hungary, and my wife and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our friends and travel companions.
Magdalena Frey, Heinz Cibulka