Zoltán Gaál: A Journey
Open to the public:
2017. 09. 07. – 2017. 10. 15.
Weekdays 2 pm – 7 pm
Weekends 11 am – 7 pm
Closed on public holidays.
The exhibition is free to visit.
Curator: Gabriella Csizek
“What turns part of the world into a journey is to start out on it.”
I can’t remember where I found that remark, but I’ve recalled it time and again since my schooldays, whenever I’ve had to write something of myself. This time is no exception. ‖ Japan and I – It was as an adult that I began to learn Japanese, and as I went on, naturally my feelings became bound up in Japan as well. I came to like it. ‖ It was an inviting, pleasing, inexplicable world far away. I visited it many times, but always with something to do there – a motive, a cause for my journey. I was there as a traveller, a film crew member, a scholarship student, an invited photographer, a tour guide, and even as a husband. But my abiding dream was to go there just for my own delight, mooch about unknown Japan taking pictures, not fulfil a function – just be there, and now I have had that chance. ‖ So I decided on this as the title I would give my introduction:
道
The character reads “journey” but has other meanings too: teaching, morality, motive, process, direction, route, way forward, advancement. ‖ Everyone’s life is a journey, but this journey’s one way, with no turning back, no starting afresh, no reversal of events allowed. Journeys are typically accompanied by diversions, dead ends, potholes, blockages, passes and slopes, not to mention stops. ‖ My two destinations on this trip were Okayama and Shōdoshima. ‖ I have to call them stops. ‖ Those stops saw retrospection, synthesis, and farewells. ‖ Farewell to a friend, György Erdős, from whom I learnt the language and a love of Japan. Farewell to the master, Mihály Gera, from whose personal example I learnt and by whose many years’ concern for my photography and advice on it I was honoured. He inspired the books I published, from first inkling to completion; he selected from my pictures and edited my albums. ‖ So I stopped, tried to organize my lines, and carried on with my journey. ‖ That is what my pictures are about.
“Learning to live is just learning to let go.” – Buddha
Professional CV
Zoltán Gaál (photojournalist, he was born on April 18, 1953, in Budapest) specialist photographer, in line with this, he made artistic photos. He began his career as a studio portraitist and photojournalist. Gradually, he became an art photographer. He makes documentary, humanist photos.
Studies
Sátoraljaújhely, Kossuth Gimnázium, graduation: 1971
MüM.5. c. Photographer Vocational School, 1972–1974
MÚOSZ Vocational School of Journalism Photojournalism, 1978
MLEE.-MLEE Aesthetics specialist, 1976–1983
Osaka University of Arts, Department of Photography, Research Fellow, 1986–1988
Individual exhibitions
Kamagasaki, University of Art, Osaka, 1988
Diary, Mai Manó House, 1998
Tavern scenes, Gyergyóalfalu (Joseni), Romania, 2000
In the footsteps of Prince Genji, Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, 2016
Group exhibitions
The ten-year Nagybaracska Photography Workshop, Hall of Art, 1995
Today in Tokyo, Copenhagen, 1996
Today in Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1997
Today in Tokyo, Thessaloniki, 1998
Today in Tokyo, Stockholm, 1999
Fresh eyes, Pesti Vigadó, Budapest, 1997
Root, Mai Manó House, 2000
Dunaszekcső, Vista Cafe Budapest, 2001
Hortobágy National Exhibition of Public Art Colony Photo Division, Debrecen, Golden Bull Gallery, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
My photo gallery, In memory of G.M., Mai Manó House, 2015
In the footsteps of Prince Genji, Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, 2015
The exhibition of Szeged Art Colony Photo Workshop, Szeged, 2016
Pictures and Pixels | Photographic Art – and Beyond |National Salon 2016, Hall of Art, Budapest, 2016