Written by Oman Morí

Relocating oneself, regardless of the circumstances, is a transformative journey that prompts us to reevaluate our sense of identity and the environment in which we were raised. It's akin to witnessing one's former life continuing to unfold in the homeland while standing on the periphery, distant and detached. These parallel realities are defined by distinctions in language, social norms, and cultural nuances that accentuate the feeling of being an outsider. Returning to one's home country can feel like a trip through time, as you reconnect with family, revisit the spaces you once called home, and encounter the objects that shaped your past. Streets you once tread and activities you engaged in are now viewed through the lens of introspection, like an archaeological dig into your own history. Photography, in this context, serves as a tool to capture the details of one's past, while simultaneously emphasizing the transformation of those elements over time. This interplay between nostalgia and apprehension has always served as an inspiration for artists.

Hungarian photographer Dávid Matécsa, who has spent the past decade as a migrant, living and studying photography in London, has harnessed the medium to explore this evolving sense of self. "As an immigrant, my life is a constant dialogue between presence and absence," reflects. "I navigate the terrain of memory, displacement, and belonging, while seeking symbolism and traditional motifs to define my hybrid identity." Their work transmits a profound sense of estrangement from the past, manifested through a series of black-and-white surrealist images that evoke individuals and situations seemingly frozen in the recesses of memory.

Matécsa's still-life compositions feature objects, ranging from portraits to statues and distinctive ornaments, each acting as a symbolic tether to a specific place and time. "I embarked on documenting my family in Hungary while reinterpreting the objects that remained in our former family home," Matécsa explains. "In this process, I came to understand that these kitsch objects are not merely tangible extensions of my Eastern European identity, but rather grotesque imprints of the present reality." This revelation is encapsulated in their work aptly titled "The Elusive Treasures of Existence."

For Dávid Matécsa, the essence of their creative passion lies in exploring into the mundane, looking for beauty in the ordinary aspects of life. In a rapidly evolving technological and media landscape, they often find themselves immersed in their subjective reality while capturing images. The act of preserving memories through photography is central to David's artistic practice, as they explore the fundamental role of the image in an age inundated with an endless stream of visual stimuli. Their creative process is a continuous trip to the past, mixing it seamlessly with the present, and culminating in a visual language deeply rooted in personal history.