Paprika Dreams

Paprika as a symbol of cultural and familiar reappropriation of east European culture. An observation on how habits, tastes, memories, personalities and similarities can nevertheless persist and be passed down through the generations.

Paprika as a symbol of cultural and familiar reappropriation of east European culture.
An observation on how , even when growing up in a different environment, habits, tastes, memories, personalities and similarities can nevertheless persist and be passed down through the generations.

Paprika is the common thread that brings back memories, explores traditions, and brings back territorial identity through newly created images that interact with historical iconographical and archives from private and Fortepan collections.

This work examines also how a decontextualised family and cultural background can persist through genetic inheritance.
Comments I’ve often heard as an adult about the physical and character similarities I share with my maternal grandmother, Agnes – who was born and died in Budapest – have led me to look, almost as a ritual, at certain images I’ve kept for years.

Whilst studying them, I’ve blended them together, combining a portrait of my grandmother Agnes with one of myself, both probably taken in an old photo booth. This blending has created an image that transcends the dimension of time, escaping the confines of eras and contexts.