Furnishing the Sacred

The series is dealing with the visual language of contemporary Christian communities through the environments used for immersion baptism. Althought this ceremony has been a two-thousand-year old form of christening, every place shows a different religious attitude. The intimacy of the event meets excitingly with the profane needs and possibilities, the tradition with the contemporary taste and unique approaches. How can a sacred event happen in a well designed church and in a inflatable pool with the same spiritual intensity? Everyday objects are arranged in new connections and get new meanings. Their intention to feel at home but also being close to the transcendent world appears in these places. The project is focusing on this human scale and shows the side of religion which is continously formed and built by humans. The images are constructed in a similar way to emphasize the viewer’s own cultural habits and and reflections. As the environment changes around the figures we can observe how it shapes our visual concepts of religion and the sacred.

Boglarka Eva Zellei (1993) studied Photography at the University of Kaposvar and received her MSc at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. In her works she examines the presence of spirituality and religion in society and personal life. She currently lives and works in Budapest, Hungary.