Ben Gyula Fodor, Vienna, Austria
Gyula Fodor is an artist in the medium of photography. Previously he has trained and worked as a lathe-operator, specialist chemicals worker, seaman, mechanical engineer, pall-bearer and haulage contractor. In 1981 Fodor escaped from communist Hungary. Since then he has lived in Vienna, Austria. He has supported himself as an independent artist since 2000.
Artist statement
Natural death trap
"Once when I was travelling in Transsylvania, I met an old man who showed me the "Bird Cemetery" not far from Lake St. Anna. It is a crater-like valley, from the bottom of which noxius gases arise. Birds flying over the valley inhale these gases, and cannot make it to the other side of the crater, fall into the valley.
Shoa
The Holocaust is very similar. It is almost impossible to pass over it. You cannot go round it. These photos too are attempts to fly over the crater of Shoa. What I was interested in was how close I could get to the impossible, the other side, how far my eyes/wings carry me without me losing balance and falling. How far I can go with my camera.
Tel Aviv
This special photo was made in Tel Aviv. What you see, is actually a set of chanukka lights on top of a synagogue; they obviously forgot to remove it after chanukka. But in the photo, the half broken lights suggest ambivalent meanings, depending on who sees the image, and where. Viewers could associate the destruction by the holocaust; but also the damage - and self-damage - of Israel, as long as both sides fail to settle the israeli-palestinian conflict." Ben Gyula Fodor 2006
