Hungarian villagers

In 2001, a number of fellow photographers of various generations organised a camp with the aim of using photography to probe, expose, and document reality in a way similar to that explored previously by sociographic writers. Since then, these photographers have journeyed every year to a new village or quiet corner of Hungary to discover and to acquaint the public with what there is to be seen and experienced there. In 2002, the team worked in Kötcse, in 2003 in the area of Ménes Creek, and in 2004 in the Pest County city of Tura, the Heves County village of Boldog, and the Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County city of Jászfényszaru, "where three counties meet". Of the several thousand photographs taken by camp participants, the selection presented here reflects a particular intensity of interest, depth of world-view, and variety of modes and styles of expression. The exhibition may be seen as something of a continuation of the Boldog/Images exhibition that closes on 22 May of this year. Though each of the artists represented here subscribes to a different school of expression and works in a different genre and style, the ensuing diversity is subtended by the uniformity of a single theme and the identity of a single place.