Ilona Nyilas: Stories from the Last Century

Visiting is free of charge
July 30, 2019 – September 15, 2019
Every day 8 am – 7 pm
Closed on public holidays.
Capa Center – 8F Gallery
Curator: Gabriella Csizek

The images of the exhibition Stories from the Last Century by Ilona Nyilas do not only lead us into the world of the 1970s and 1980s, but they also reveal an important period of Hungarian photography.

In these two decades, the subsidizing and control of the path-finding of young artists, as well as the creative activities of established authors, was in the hands of the same institutions. Even this way, the Studio of Young Photographers was mostly characterized by the birth of dialog-based works, interactions, cooperation, as well as the originality of thoughts and questions. The lightness of amateur photography intertwined with raising theoretical questions, while also visualizing the path-finding endeavors of photography.

This period was a stage in the history of subjective documentary photography, when the unique visual methods could be viewed in parallel to each other, and together they provided a greater picture of the stylistic revival of the era. The documentary content of these photographs is very powerful, yet it is the world-view and aesthetics of the author that gains precedence. The series, photo reportages and single images are acknowledged as expressions of opinion regarding social processes and problems.

It was in this feracious era, when freedom was considered to be a basic value, and photography was looking for and finding its revival, that Ilona Nyilas started taking photographs. Her sensitivity, humanistic approach, as well as her pure curiosity and love towards people has determined her work and images all along.

Her interest has always been focused on people and everything human, the one-and-only personality never to be replicated again, whom she encounters at a certain time and place, and in a certain way. And the image taken would continue to live on forever, inscribed into the fate of both of them. Her photographs are essential descriptions of seeking, of encounters, and the potential beauty that lies within reality.

And indeed, considering them from our time these are stories from the last century, but not stories from the good old days, but the answers of Ilona Nyilas, world- and self-questioning photographer, composed as images. (Gabriella Csizek, curator)

My enthusiasm for creating images started 45 years ago in the Práter Street Photography School and in the Budakeszi Filmlabor, and it has never faded. Although I did not always have the opportunity to develop within the framework of the profession, I have always walked the land of miracles, and I have captured many beautiful, sad, and interesting things.

As a traveling photographer, I visited thousands of families, of which we have made an experimental documentary in 1987–1988 with Irén Bíró, camera operator and director, titled Kopogós, which was presented both by the Hungarian National Television and Duna Television.

As a theater photographer, I captured the evolving of several plays from the first rehearsals to the premiere, so I had an opportunity to take a look behind the curtains, which served as a foundation of my interest in theater pedagogy. Later on I received a degree on dance and theater pedagogy.

The Zsigray Képeslap Stúdió (Zsigray Postcard Studio) commissioned me to take photographs for postcards all over the country. This was the first independent postcard-distributor in Hungary, which could operate without the control of the authorities. As a freelance photographer, I also did photo reportage for several newspapers. Besides the works I was commissioned to do, I also strove to capture the impressions of the life going on around me.

Everything I experienced, and the way I saw and captured the world, all inspired and motivated me to establish the creative house, serving also as our own home, in a small village surrounded by woods. Thousands have visited here, little ones and adults, the elder generation, and people living with disabilities. There is an opportunity here to experiment with several countryside crafts like pottery, or leather work as well. In the course of the teaching and the common activities, numerous life stories have been revealed to me, which directed me towards a new course: I received a degree on ethics, anthropology and sociology.

My village life was replaced by a new scenery. London. At first, it was difficult for me to accept this necessary decision, and I was not able to take photographs in England. However, the passing of time helped me, and my heart opened up to this world too, until I eventually continued with photography there as well. I have two homes now. My work in the creative house is just as important as what I do in London.

I live and experience my images. I find it important to keep our memories alive as a visual context as well. These images encompass story-telling, honesty, associative networks, and lyricism, without the pressure to comply.

I have not had an exhibition in Budapest in three decades, although I have presented my work in the countryside on numerous occasions, especially in my microenvironment, in the towns and villages of Göcsej and Őrség, as well as beyond our borders.

Last time I presented a selection of my work in the exhibition section of the Thames Ditton Library, London, in 2014. And in 2015, the Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society – England’s oldest photography association established in 1890 – asked me to present my 40 years of photographic work in 40 minutes.

In 2008, my one and only book so far was published with the title “Be szép a régi kép, a tiszta…” (“How beautiful the old image, the unblemished” from the poem “Menekülés az Úrhoz” (Flight to the Lord) by the Hungarian poet, Endre Ady), showcasing a selection of my works from the past.

The present exhibition is the first step in the course of compiling a material presenting my oeuvre.

Some of the images on display are from my first enlargements, and the rest compliment the lab work of Judit Szabó, Balogh Rudolf Award-winning photographer. (Ilona Nyilas)