honorable mention
Bela Varadi united kingdom
Photo © Bela Varadi
title
"Delicious"
As the far-right Orban government started its crackdown on the media, it became increasingly hard to maintain my editorial freedom. I resigned in 2011 and moved to the UK. Starting life in a new country forced me to reconsider how I could create socially conscious visual art. I turned my attention to photography and started creating documentary photo series about Roma and Traveller life in Hungary, the UK and France and documenting the intersectionality of Roma and LGBTQ+ experiences. Last year, I exhibited my photos at a literary festival in Hastings and at the Glastonbury Festival. I am in the TTVision program of the Traveller Times, the UK's main GRT magazine. My photographs have been awarded in competitions and published in magazines.
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entry description
How can we create photographs of Gypsy and Roma people without the photo becoming discriminative while providing a culturally conscious description representing these minorities? Can we avoid cultural exploitation when taking these photos? What does this photo of the two Traveller children enjoying moments of the Kent Horse Fair near West Malling says about the recipient and the creator/artist of the photograph? Would it influence the recipient if they knew that a Gypsy photographer took the photo? And would their experience of understanding the picture change if someone from a non-gypsy background photographed the children? What if the purpose of the picture was to make the recipient feel uncomfortable? This photo is about your cultural perceptions.about the photographer
For decades I have been trying to integrate my two main interests; creating visual art and representing the life and interest of the Roma people. As a young adult, I worked as a local minority representative in Hungary while painting pictures of the Roma life in my village. Starting a career in journalism helped me to find an accommodating platform for my passion for visual and social representation. I was one of the founding members of Europe's first Roma radio, RadioC. After working for various radio stations and online newspapers, I became a television news reporter and broadcaster. Alongside my journalist job, I created a documentary mini-series which won the grand prize at the Faces of Poverty Film Festival in 2010.As the far-right Orban government started its crackdown on the media, it became increasingly hard to maintain my editorial freedom. I resigned in 2011 and moved to the UK. Starting life in a new country forced me to reconsider how I could create socially conscious visual art. I turned my attention to photography and started creating documentary photo series about Roma and Traveller life in Hungary, the UK and France and documenting the intersectionality of Roma and LGBTQ+ experiences. Last year, I exhibited my photos at a literary festival in Hastings and at the Glastonbury Festival. I am in the TTVision program of the Traveller Times, the UK's main GRT magazine. My photographs have been awarded in competitions and published in magazines.
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