Judit Ruprech: Gentle Freedom

Visiting is free of charge:
June 12 – September 17, 2023
Capa Center – 8F Gallery
Curator: Klára Szarka

Gentle freedom

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” /Margaret Mead/

By examining a radical lifestyle experiment, I would like to reflect on two issues of our time becoming extremely urgent – the fragile relationship between humans and nature, and the importance of communities. Eco-communities are mainly created by intellectuals moving out of cities. The change of their lifestyle is not motivated by economic interests, it is rather a reaction to the negative processes around us. In an alienated world that is unhealthily over-consuming, and eviscerating both the environment and the human spirit, they envision their future in a cohesive community. Their concept is based on localism. They want to live, make a living, trade, and relax locally. They reject the consumer society’s perception of accelerated time and the view that growth always means development.

They are committed to a life that is small-scale, slower, striving for self-sufficiency, sustainable in the long term and community based. They see themselves as part of natural processes and cycles. They use chemical-free farming, use nature-friendly technologies in their architecture and waste management and save natural resources. They use farming practices that are adapted to the landscape, with local plant and animal species, and revive small crafts. They know the capabilities of their areas – as well as the physical environment and the cooperation and needs of the people living there. In their activities they plan for tens of years ahead.

The number of people living in ecovillages in Hungary is currently a few hundred. This is not a dominant part of the Hungarian society, but I think, it is still important to present them. Their difficulties are also barometers of the countryside’s difficulties (economic resources, local livelihood). It is also important to mention the proactivity of eco-communities: they not only formulate the social problems but are also able to realize their plans for improvement in practice, providing concrete examples. Their results can also benefit society as a whole. Many of those moving out are agricultural engineers, ecologists, biologists, botanists, IT specialists, economists, psychologists, and communities are strengthened by several artists too. With their reflexivity, social critique, and open-minded approach to alternative solutions, they are capable of constant renewal. These communities are also constantly changing, learning their new way of life through practice.

There are both newcomers and leavers.

In the last year or so I have visited three small communities in Transdanubia: Nagyszékely, Nyim and Krishna Valley. I have photographed at tree plantings, permaculture designer courses, stove-building workshops, meetings of people striving for an ecological lifestyle alternative. I captured volunteers coming from abroad, a day in the life of community members, or the stages of building a straw-bale house.

Besides everyday life, they also expect me as a friend for their holidays: I said goodbye to the old year and hello to the new one with the Nyim Eco Community.

Judit Ruprech

I was born in Pécs in 1987. I have always been a contemplative person, I read a lot as a child. I gladly leant against the railing on our fourth floor balcony to narrate the imaginary discourses of the people coming and going in the housing estate, to invent stories about them. In my last years of high school, I discovered photography as a form of expression. I did not study this subject at university yet, I graduated in history in 2011. The hobby gradually became my passion, my way of life, and then my profession as well: I am a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer.

Although I absorb everything about photography mainly as an autodidact, over time I also qualified as an applied photographer and graphic designer. My turn towards documentary photography was confirmed once and for all by my graduation from Photojournalism (2016-2017) at the Bálint György Journalism Academy of MÚOSZ (Association of Hungarian Journalists).

I see the camera as a tool that allows me to “legally” get involved in unexpected situations and be present in situations where I should have no business at all to be there. I can meet people I would not otherwise cross paths with. I work with storytelling to give voice to the issues that matter to me. Rather than chasing after pretentious images, I sometimes like to resort to everyday subjects. I work with a solution-oriented focus: in addition to highlighting negative trends, it inspires me to share with viewers and readers forward-looking initiatives and efforts to improve the situation.