My art is inseparable from the coping after survival and from the gesture and actions of healing and from the love of animals. These transformations have creative potential. Because traumas must be transformed into steps of community building, common development and connection.
In 2003, I obtained my first degree (BA) in teaching with a minor in music. I earned my second degree, an MA, in pedagogy and Hungarian literature in 2008. I’ve been writing poems since 2010.
The post-communist Hungary, where I was born and which is now becoming a competitive authoritarian system, restricts artists' self-expression and existential safety in many ways. As a result, I lost my connection to art for almost a decade and a half. For a long time, I worked with the rehabilitation of traumatized dogs. In January 2024, my husband and I emigrated to Finland.
Since then, I have been teaching myself to draw and paint. The endless pine forests, exploring the archipelago, and the atmosphere of the harbors fill me with joy. I want to leave as small ecological footprint as possible, even in my creative work. That's why oil pastels and water-soluble paints appeal to me.
It is important to support the abused so that they can become survivors from victims. It is important that they have autonomy and a future. It is important that everyone has their own dignified life.
That's why my vision is to define the pieces of reality, to put them in context, to help us face them. My vision is a society where discourse on human rights is unnecessary because free participation, choice of profession, security, equality, and work-based wages free from discrimination are fundamental and integral parts of public thinking.
The more space we give to creation and the thinking that goes with it, the more people will find words and ways to express their emotions and experiences. They will be able to broaden their horizons and demonstrate their values. Belonging to a community gives joy. Art provides affirmation, friendships and a supportive atmosphere that relieves loneliness. We all want to belong to others. We want recognition. A life full of dignity and opportunities.
I think these are the building blocks of healthy personality development and, indirectly, of societies becoming adults and responsible. I would like to encourage and support my fellow women by sharing my story. To put the importance of women's and animal rights into discourse.
Revival
My painting reflects on the questions "Where are we at home?", "Where are the boundaries of our home?" and "What are the boundaries?".
Almost two years ago, my husband and I started all over, two thousand kilometers from the country we were born. Here in Finland, I met an art trio of Iranian women who work with immigrant children and their parents to help them coping with the experiences of changing countries, integrating and creating a home. Their poem inspired the birth of my painting.
My artwork can be interpreted as a colorful micro-world, as if we were inside a child's imagination. Where creatures with characteristic outlines are watching and looking at each other. It is as if a tiny soul were curled up in a white, yet not empty area not bounded by the contour. It’s up to the receiver to determine what kind of creature they are. After all, the receiver’s interpretation is always the most important. They feelings, they story. Do the creatures stand, float, swim? Where are the creatures, where are we? On land, in the air, in water? Perhaps more importantly, that we are together.
The other possible interpretation is the opposite; it shows a huge area as a quasi-map. In some places, smaller areas are separated within the borders. Parts and the whole. In harmony with each other. What do we choose? What are we part of? Where do we have our own limits? At our bodies, at our principles, at the borders of our country? Or what parts are we made of as a complex individual? What do we show and convey about ourselves to other, colorful tiny little living creatures? Play! If we are the little dots, where can we find ones like us? If we look at it from afar, quite close. If we decide, we look for points of connection. All it takes is a painting, a song, a poem, a thought. But most importantly: where and what makes you feel at home in this big world?