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.

Kollányi was awarded second place in the General News Picture Story category at the 68th Pictures of the Year International contest for the picture series what you can see in the photoalbum entitled Memento.

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.