Tamad Dezso

Here, Anywhere

The map of Hungary is speckled with capsules of time. During the political transformation twenty years ago, as the country experienced change, some places were simply forgotten… Streets, blocks of flats, vacant sites and whole districts became little self-defined enclosures, in which today a certain out-dated, awkward, longed-to-be-forgotten Eastern European feeling still lingers. These places seem to be at one with other parts of the city, but their co-existence in time is only apparent; Each place fades in accordance with its own specific chronology, determined by its past. That what remains is then silently reconquered by nature, or enveloped by the lifestyles of the generations of tomorrow. Of the original inhabitants, who’ve never fully integrated with society, soon only traces will remain, until they, too, will inevitably disappear over the course of time.

I do not observe these mini-universes in the hope of recording them in their entirety, but I rather try to capture the essence of these worlds by elevating certain chosen details of this disappearing existence. The series, begun in 2009, examines the typically transitional period and symbolic locations of post-communist space which, due to disinterest or thoughtlessness, is slowly vanishing, and fading into images. But for the time being, they are still around. Here.

Here, anywhere.

 

 

Bio

Tamas Dezso is a documentary fine art photographer working on long-term projects focusing on the margins of society in Hungary, Romania and in other parts of Eastern Europe. His photographs have been published in The New York Times, National Geographic, TIME, GEO, Le Monde Magazine, Ojo de Pez, Polka Magazine and many others.

 

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Tamas Dezso

14 thoughts on “Tamas Dezso – Here, Anywhere”

  1. in film, your brothers: Tarkovsky, Jancso, Angelopolus, Wadja, Kieslowski, Erice, Reygadas, Bela Tarr……

    in literature, your brothers: Kertesz, Nadas, Krasznahorkai, Esterhazy

    in pictures, your brothers: the sound of wind in the cavern of trees, the limbs of the filds, the seas in the emptied buildings and churches….

    when i arrived at the 2nd last picture, i literally felt a body blow, and exhilation, the shock and then, quietly, i said: ecce homo…..

    the essay: sublime

    itt vagyunk…..

  2. Eye candy indeed.

    I love the very formal compositions, the minimalist colour. Beautiful beautiful stuff. It almost feels like these are illustrations from an old book of fairy tales.

    I’m just curious to know what Ringo Star was doing in Hungary.

  3. There are some really nice images here but the statement is a bunch of artistic mumbo jumbo. Example: “but their co-existence in time is only apparent” It is not apparent. They ARE coexisting in time.

    I would venture to guess that these types of forgotten spaces occur in most any city or town. We have all seen them.

    I bet these would be more interesting if they where printed big and hanging in a gallery.

    OH…. And I told everyone he would be back… LOL. Tantrum is over I see.

  4. I always liked “these types of forgotten spaces occuring in most any city or town and that we have all seen”. It makes it all the harder to pull an original essay with some authoring about it, so that our feeling is that of going beyond mere recognition of such spaces, but being led by Tamas for an esthetic experience, and a discovery of his newest intents.

    Well done, Tamas!

  5. Here, anywhere, that’s quite correct.. anywhere will look slightly different from one place to the next, the more farther we go from ‘here’ the more it will be different.. but key in all this is to capture this ‘here’ or anywhere..

    Nicely done, thank you, Tamas!

  6. This is a delightfull essay for which I pay my respect to the photographer. Apart for some great photographs, the whole constructs a narrative that leaves pleanty of space to the viewers to add their own meaning. An essay worth depeloping further.

  7. I too am positively impressed by this work. At first I thought it was going to be just another all too familiar east European post-communist angst piece, especially when I saw the crows, and I thought “cue Imants,” but at #7 I thought the essay totally changed, or perhaps truly started, and from there I found it much more universal. It certainly didn’t differ much from what one could find in the American midwest. Of course you would have to find it and the prerequisite for that would be having the point of view and aesthetic sensibility to find it. That, on top of the great technical quality, is the strength of this work.

    On that note, I’m a bit surprised that no one has commented on the technical quality. After so much circular discussion on camera phones and two dollar apps, I found it kind of refreshing to see a deep vision well-realized with a much larger format capture. Would these same photos work, or work as well, had they been captured with a tiny sensor?

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