Documentary photographer Imre Benkő interprets life through photography. His unique approach, deeply humanist and free of stereotypes, attempts to represent the genuine and profound impressions of an era. His reports have influenced, and continue to influence, generations of photographers from the region.
Born in 1943, Benkő started taking pictures at the age of 20, quickly joining the Hungarian press agency MTI. The exhibition Familiar Strangers – Colour Snapshots from the 1950s, at the FUGA Budapest Center of Architecture, the central location of the European Month of Photography in Hungary, features a selection of press photos from that era.
It was at the MTI that Benkő started to develop his own style, beginning in 1968, reminiscent of the approaches of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Josef Koudelka. In 1975 and 1978, he was awarded the World Press Photo. In 1992, his report on the decline and closure of the Ózd metalworks received the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Prize. In 1981 he won the Béla Balázs national prize, and in 1991 the Pulitzer Prize. The Körmendi Gallery in Budapest is now exhibiting a large selection of his work from 1971 to today with Ways/Photographs.
“During my trips abroad, I take pictures, like a tourist,” says Benkő. “I examine the multiplicity of human existence at a given time period. China, India, Vietnam, North Korea, Russia, Romania, Cuba, America, France, England, Germany—these are all very different cultures and demonstrate the diversity of life. Technology advances, the landscape changes, a new generation arrives. The great wheel of time and space keeps turning. Based on the encounters I’ve had over the years, my black-and-white film photographs, arranged in series, communicate the sensations of life. I’m trying to evoke a global image of our time. For me, my philosophical journeys are like a daydream.
EXHIBITION
Ways / Photographs: 1971-2013
Körmendi Gallery, 1055 Budapest, Falk Miksa utca 7.
3 – 20 November 2014
http://fotohonap.hu/
http://www.fotografus.hu/en/imre-benko
EXHIBITION
Familiar Strangers – Colour Snapshots from the 1950s
Fuga – Budapest Architecture Center, 1052 Budapest, Petőfi Sándor utca 5.
29 Octobre – 21 Novembre 2014
http://fotohonap.hu/
