Janos Eifert: Eyeballs and footsteps
Hungarian photographer and dancer Janos Eifert is holding his first photography exhibition in India. Supreeta Singh talks to this versatile artist
This is your first exhibition in India? How did this happen?
It is my first exhibition in India. I am very excited to see the reaction and feedback from the people. The sucess is never guaranteed and that gives the excitement.
I have to thank to the excellent photgrapher Mala Mukerjee for the invitaion.We met in China in 2006, where we were both working with a group of photographers. She has seen the value in my work and wants other people to see that as well in India. I thank for her for the opportunity.
Dance and photography: That’s an interesting combination.
I have been a professional dancer for 17 years. I started to take pictures during that time when we were travelling around the world. Photography for me is a game – a possibility to get a wider knowledge of the world. It means emotional challenges and the freedom of expressing myself on my own visual language. I find photography and dance beautifully complementing each other as creative expressions.
Tell me something about Hungarian photography and your photographs.
Hungary has given many excellent photographers to the world, including Andre Kertesz, Robert Capa, Brassai, Lucien Herve, Munkacsi, Kepes Gyorgy, Moholy- Nagy Laszlo, just to list a few. At the beginning of the last century the” Hungarian style” created a typical instance and its representatives were well known worldwide. Today, talented photographers are working together to maintain and achieve more as visual artists.
I gathered an immense archive from the American Space-Center and the Taj Mahal in India to portraits of artists, politicians and celebrities form all over the world. Many of them are press photographs, book illustrations, documentation and there are those pictures with a special message, which is difficult to categorise. They are sometimes just created accidentally, but most of them are the results of creativity, research, and experimentation with new and different ways. These days the photographers are supported by the creative possibilities of digital techniques. I am using these techniques as well to create a photograph.
You combine a lot of different styles. Do you do that consciously?
The photography is an “image language”. I believe that I am communicating through my images in many languages and in many different dialects. My images are conveying very important messages with emotional and intellectual meaning. The messages must be understood and that is why I am using a very comprehensive “language”. The large scale of opportunities, areas of usage and cultural traditions all need an image language, which is diversified in style.
Generally art photography is looked upon as niche photography, meant only for collectors and big money, and not for general people. What do you think of this?
Photography has many areas, including commercial, report and creative, artistic, art photography. I do not think that art photography is for collectors with big money. The artist will create even if there is no chance to sell the images. An internal compulsion – not money – is creating art. The images are published, exhibited and these they are posted on the Internet for anybody who is interested and love art.
What are you expecting from this exhibition?
I am hoping to gain new experiences, meet new people and create new relationships. I am hoping that through my images, people will learn about the European, particularly Hungarian style. As I mentioned before, there is a serious history of this style with many representatives over the last century.
What do you think about Indian photography? Do you have any favourite Indian photographer?
To tell you the truth, I do not know much about photography in India. This is one of my goals to learn more about photography in India. I am afraid to mention the name of my favorite Indian photographer because I do not want to leave out other excellent photographers. As a reporter, writer, art director and curator I will introduce them through their work in Europe and in Hungary. I love and appreciate them and I hope I will get to know their work better.
János Eifert’s photographs will be displayed at the North Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts, 08-12. April 2008
