Gábor Arion Kudász – Tropical Depression

Vietnam, on the other side of the planet, is sufficiently distant to appear wild and alien at first glance. However, photographer Gábor Arion Kudász wandered through the big cities and small villages of Vietnam for two months, gaining insight into the daily struggles, aspirations, and desires of its inhabitants. What he discovered seemed strangely familiar from various perspectives. The clash of aspirations between generations, the yearning of the youth to depart, and the imperative of staying put articulated by the elders result in societal tensions on a large scale. Similarly, the peculiar blend of a market economy structure intertwined with the communist regime or the skyscrapers nestled among colonial props adds to the complexity. Gábor Arion Kudász’s works not only depict landscapes and people but also reveal the subtle nuances of internal struggles and desires. His use of digital-analog hybrid solutions targets the current discourse on the relationship between truth and appearance. From the substantial amount of material gathered in Vietnam, we present one of the guiding threads of the processing journey unfolding along the artist’s recollections.

Gábor Arion Kudász is a highly acclaimed photographer, honored with numerous professional awards, including the Capa Grand Prize. He studied photography at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts (now MOME) and has been teaching there for twenty years. His works are characterized by large-scale, fundamentally documentary cycles, often incorporating staged and fictitious compositional elements. We are delighted to announce that the artist’s presentation of his art book, featuring material captured in Vietnam, will take place at the PhotoLab during the October 12th closing event.