For almost four decades, the press photo exhibition has always been a great opportunity for joint recollection. Through the works of the photojournalists, we can relive the most important political events of the previous year, the joyful and sad stories, those changes in the global and local environment that are of increasing importance. We can call to mind major sports competitions and achievements, the most memorable cultural events, face upsetting and unresolved social issues again, or be pleased to see improvements.
The 38th Press Photo Exhibition has a role, more important than ever, to help recollection and act as a reminder. After all, over the past months, since the outbreak of the pandemic, our life has turned upside down, leading to a change in the meaning and significance of things. We have come to know new concepts, which have become parts of our lives. “Quarantine” is no longer a strange, vague term, but has become part of our everyday reality. One thing we have certainly learned about the coronavirus is that it will change our lives for a long time to come.
What the grand prize-winning photographs at the press photo exhibition at Capa Center remind us of are not only the now sad, now joyous, and occasionally uplifting, moments: the works of András Hajdú D. and Bea Kovács, Orsolya Ajpek’s photo report on the tragedy of the river cruiser, Hableány, and Balázs Mohai’s concert shots or Ádám Urbán’s circus scenes – impossible to take in recent times – also put us in mind of the normal life we had not so long ago.
Curator: Tamás Szigeti