László Végh – Zakarpattia Oblast in the Shadow of the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

Open to the public:
January 27, 2017 – March 12, 2017
weekdays: 2pm – 7pm
weekends: 11am - 7pm
Mai Manó House is closed on holidays.
No admission fee.
Curator: Gabriella Csizek

Pécsi József Photography Grant at the Mai Manó House

The Pécsi József Photography Grant is among the most important, challenging, and rewarding opportunities for young artists in contemporary photography. Over the 26 years since it was established in honor of József Pécsi photographer (1889-1956) in 1991, the grant, available for one-year periods for maximum three times, has provided the opportunity and support to a great number of excellent photographers to develop subjects current in form and content alike, and present them in an exhibition accompanied by a catalog, realizing an important stage in their artistic career.

For 17 years, Mai Manó House has been representing the recipients of the Pécsi József Photography Grant with professional responsibility. Since 2000, the Mai Manó House also is the organizer of the grantees’ showcase exhibitions.

Among the territories separated from Hungary, Zakarpattia Oblast (Transcarpathia, or often Subcarpathia in Hungarian) was rendered to the role of the neglected step-sibling in many ways. Although the local Hungarian population became a focus of attention due to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, we still know very little about the everyday life of people living there. As a recipient of the Pécsi József Photography Grant, I had the opportunity to travel to the region on multiple occasions in 2015 and 2016, in order to take photographs of the people. While my almost two-year research only outlined small sections of this region on a blank map, as time went by, I realized more and more how simplistically I viewed this multiethnic region from home in Hungary. At the beginning, I was primarily interested in the Transcarpathian aspects of the east Ukrainian conflict. I photographed returning soldiers and visited homes without the heads of the household or marginalized people. While the continuing deterioration of the standard of living, the devaluation of the Ukrainian currency, and the all-permeating corruption have made life difficult in general and increased the number of emigrants, those who chose to remain still have hope.

László Végh