Attempts at inheriting

I am a young East-Central European Christian woman artist. For me, this series over the years is an experimental field where I can always redefine my relationship with my identity. I am collecting impressions of my cultural environment and heritage which are shaping this bittersweet connection.
Born in the years after the fall of communism, I carry with me the chaotic religiosity of that period. After becoming disappointed in traditional religiosity, I continued the Christian spiritual journey alone, which also became an artistic one.

Spirituality and creation are intertwined in my personal life and also my in connection with society, I visualize the dialogue of these areas through the pictures. These unique local images and churches tell stories about the history and bizarre yet rich religious culture of this post-communist region. Sometimes I discover my own inner world in them, just as my self-portraits reflect my spiritual journey. Through the act of image-making and performative gestures, I seek to reinterpret this worn-out heritage.

The project was supported by the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

Boglárka Éva Zellei (1993) is a photographer and visual artist based in Budapest, Hungary. Her work is concerned with contemporary spirituality in a culture where religion is often misinterpreted and overused. Zellei studied Photography at the University of Kaposvár and received her MA in Photography at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest in 2017.