Like You and Me – Young Hungarian Photography

Featuring nearly a hundred milestone works by thirty young artists, Like You and Me is an exhibition that highlights themes and technical experiments from contemporary Hungarian photography, along with characteristics of the genre and various cases when the boundaries of the medium are crossed. This show at Mai Manó House seeks to present individual voices in photography, through a generation’s personal experiences of an era. We look at whether there is something common in the experiences of individuals who were born in the distinctive political climate of the post-1980 era, who were in the thick of the digital boom, for whom the use of its products has become second nature. Can these experiences seep unconsciously into the works of photographers? The loosely connected individuals of the postmodern society find the passage between tradition and the latest styles natural, have a positive attitude towards fashion and social media, and their attachments are less and less political or serve as instruments of resistance. Will there be points of intersections when different approaches and methods are compared, will there be lessons to learn, is there such a thing as a great Collective Generational Experience? The title, Like You and Me, refers to the independence of the individual and the expression of personal identity, the intimate self, the body, and its extended boundaries. It means isolation and social solitude, but also community, whether virtual or real, as well as togetherness.

The available space places a constraint on our selection from the richness of oeuvres that characterizes contemporary Hungarian photography, but this colourful display still offers an invaluable summary of an era in photography, for us who live in it. It is about you, me and us.