When words are not needed

On Thursday February 20th the exhibition Časť bez účasti opened in the Medium gallery in Bratislava.

Karol Horváth (21), the son of Irma Horváthová, the leader of the ETP Slovakia community centre in Moldava nad Bodvou, was one of the artists. He presented his own pictures from the ghetto budulovska in Moldava nad Bodvou. This exhibition is Karol′s first but he hopes that it won’t be his last.

I am very happy, because this exhibition means a lot to me. When I heard that I had a chance to participate in  the official exhibition in our capital Bratislava, the first thing I thought was: finally all my work is worth it.  Now I can display all my work;  I can show what povertyreally looks like in the settlement.“ says Karol. 

Among the photographers exhibiting their pictures were several professionals and Karol met them personally. „Professional phtographers as Šymon Kliman acknowledged my work and complimented my photos. Of course, my photos have their faults, but I am headed in the right direction.  I was very happy to get to know the other photographers. Iit was a great experience for me.“ Participation in the exhibition gave to Karol an another experience: learning to not be afraid of speaking in front of dozens of people.

And what did Karol want to show visitors through his photos? „The philosophy of my pictures and the style of my  photography is based on my wanting) to capture moments showing  how Roma live their daily lives in the ghetto. I like taking pictures of children and mainly of their faces, because they openly express their emotions and feelings. We are not so interested in WHO is in the photo.  Instead the question addressed is „WHAT DOES THIS PHOTO  EXPRESS?   When someone sees those children and those eyes in photo, then words retreat and feelings and questions come to the surface.“      

The exhibition, where you can see Karol′s pictures, is ongoing until Sunday, 16 March this year. Karol is a graduate of our photography  workshop, which ran from 2009 to 2011. You can also find his pictures in the publication Andal o Dživipen (From our lives), which was created as the culmination of the photography workshop.

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