In 2021, the Euro Foto Art International Association (AIEFA) in Oradea, together with the Carpathian Basin Institute in Szeged, organised an online course in photographic art and technique, attended by 100 Hungarian students from all corners of the Carpathian Basin.
The course was led by István Tóth AFIAP, ESFIAP photographer.
At the end of the course, an exhibition of the 100 works of the participants, entitled My Settlement, was held for the first time on 26 March 2022 in the lobby of the Carpathian Basin Institute in Szeged, which was then turned into a travelling exhibition. The exhibition was also opened on 22 January 2023 at the Partium House in Debrecen, and under the auspices of AIEFA and the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), recognised by UNESCO, in Bátfa, Transcarpathia.
The opening took place on 4 July 2023 at 18:00 in the Pálóczi Horváth Simon Community House in Bátfa. A large number of participants were welcomed by Dorina Dobán, a local Reformed pastor and one of the course graduates herself. In her speech she praised the quality and organisation of the course and said. Now, when I take photos, I use what I learnt on the course, paying attention to composition, light and other important factors”. The AIEFA President then took the floor to talk about the circumstances surrounding the organisation of the course and his own personal experiences, before presenting the pastor with the AIEFA and FIAP certificates of patronage.
At the end of the event, the participants were given a copy of the photographic art album “My town”, published by Euro Foto Art Publishers, with the support of AIEFA and KMI. At the opening of the exhibition, Gergely Torma performed Hungarian folk songs from the Viski and Nagydobrony area on accordion. The exhibition will be on display for two months.
The second part of the exhibition was opened on Wednesday, 5 July at 17:00 in the gallery of the Carpathian House of the Hungarian Houses Network in Kisvárda. The opening was attended by a large audience. László Bodrog, director of the Carpathian House, welcomed the visitors and thanked the organisers for bringing the exhibition to Kisvárda and congratulated them on its organisation.
The event was also attended by Dr. Miklós Seszták, Member of Parliament, who praised the idea of the event and the quality of the exhibited works. In closing, the President of AIEFA took the floor to talk about his personal experiences of the course and to present László Bodrog with certificates of AIEFA patronage and FIAP membership.
Two students from Kisvárda, Beáta Pedruk and Béla Ács, also attended the opening ceremony and each received a copy of the photographic art album “My Settlement”, published with the funding of AIEFA and KMI. Shortly after the opening, the exhibition was visited by Tibor Leleszi, Mayor of Kisvárda.
At the opening of the exhibition, violist Sándor József Thurzó, a member of the Sola Fide Christian Cultural Group of Oradea, delighted the audience with Hungarian music: Zoltán Kodály’s Evening at the Campfire, János Lavotta’s Folk Songs of the Highlands (which he himself arranged for viola), and Zoltán Kodály’s Folk Songs of the Highlands: In Kisvárda, he performed J. Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5, Alfréd Macalik’s Menuetto, Zsolt Lászlóffy’s Búvópatak and Kodály’s Esti dal (Night Song).
The Kisvárda exhibition will remain open for a month. Both openings were broadcast live on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kmft.hu.
Photos from the exhibition opening
