Dorottya Vékony (1985) keeps revisiting the theme of the body, whether it is our own or others’, or a collective body consciousness. The body images appearing in her works are primary reflections of our relation to the world, the environment and ourselves, forming a map that carries our history, the traces of our age and our personal stories.
Below, she explains more about her practice and inspirations:
Besides personal aspects, right now I’m inspired by recent public discussions about reproductive rights in Hungarian media and politics. I try to question the active options for action of the female body, and how it can be represented in a changed social order, achieved on its own right.
My main focus is the body, as it is a great vehicle to reveal not only artistic, but also political, pedagogical, historical, medical, social and technological problems. Autonomy over our body and community practices occupy my thoughts and artistic practice the most.
My relationship to photography is rather fluctuating. Sometimes I feel it close, sometimes more distant. What I really like about photography is that it definitely has its limits, but at the same time it is very compatible with other media, and its boundaries are easily permeable. Nowadays I experiment with the possibilities of stretching it out to a third dimension, making it more plastic and mobile in space. Besides photography, I often create videos, audio-visual works, photo-based installations and books. My artistic method is fundamentally determined by the subject, but I also like to take the opportunities of representational versatility, experiment and work with others.
My new project explores female fertility, marriage, sanctity, having children and the losses associated with it. I have examined the expectations regarding female roles and the female body, its options for action, its status and representation applying a more personal and documentary attitude.
I find the current situation challenging from a social perspective: how we can practice solidarity, acceptance and respect each-others’ personal boundaries. I regret that such a pandemic was necessary to reach this point, and really hope that these fresh experiences will not fade away swiftly in this extremely existentialist, egoist and over-consuming welfare society. Digital society definitely seems to be on a rise, bringing up new demands, and naturally art does/will react on this. The questions that currently concern me the most manifest in the current situation. But it is also a very regional peculiarity that the Hungarian government felt the need to ban rainbow families and limit single parents’ possibilities by law. Here, it is part of the pandemic that the current government exploits people’s hopelessness and paralysation.
It is a bit sad that the festival went completely online. I rather stand for personal communication and meetings, and find it a bit difficult to catch up online, especially with the knowledge that this interview could have been recorded in a nice bar somewhere in Amsterdam. On a more positive note, the Futures Conversation discussions were really great, and I admire the topics the Assembly series touched upon!
