Péter Kollányi: Memento
Memento – a limited edition photobook published by the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center for the 5th anniversary of the red mud catastrophe by award-winning documentary photographer Péter Kollányi.
Five years later Péter Kollányi’s poetic images of the red mud catastrophe remind us to recall one of the most frightening environmental disasters. On a tranquil October day at Ajka alumina plant in Hungary, a dyke suddenly burst and 1 million cubic metres of toxic red mud poured out of the storage pond, causing the immediate evacuation of two villages. Residents had only a few minutes to leave and most of them could never return home. The mud painted everything with all shades of red – what remained was solely chaos and silence.
For over a year the Hungarian documentary photographer had shot images of the ghost villages before the abandoned houses were knocked down. His award-winning photo series systematically pursued to find vanishing marks of human existence, creating an elegiac refrain between the post-apocalyptic view and passing life.
Written specifically for this album, the internationally acclaimed Hungarian writer, Péter Nádas provided a lyrical opening with his text that stands at the intersection of the catastrophe’s verbal and visual aftermath, blending genres to create an encompassing whole.






Title of publication: Memento
Artist: Péter Kollányi
Text: Includes the poem ’A Sedimental Glossary’
specifically written for this album by Péter Nádas
Design: Studio Mothership
Translation: Petra Smidéliusz
Format: Hard cover with book cloth
Printing technique: Offset print
Size: 260 x 220 mm
Number of pages: 52 + 22 pages
Number of images: 25
Edition size: 350 English / 250 Hungarian numbered copies
Special thanks to Tamás Dezső & István Virágvölgyi
Publisher: Orsolya Kőrösi, managing director
Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center Nonprofit Ltd.
Published by Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center in 2015.
© Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center
© Péter Kollányi
© Péter Nádas