Born in Hungary in the early '90s, Bence Bakonyi is now proving to the world that he has already a voice of his own in the contemporary photographic field. The sweetness and the villainess meet halfway in his work, creating a present tense of its own. It’s a frozen and clean second of the (un)known, that mixes aesthetics with philosophy, the past and the future. Human beings are at the same time summoned and avoided, presenting to us a work that navigates in our surroundings and in faraway lands, where the verbs “to leave” and “to stay” are never that simple.
Working between Budapest and Shanghai is not for everyone, don’t you think?
Now I am working in Middle Europe, but I worked in Shanghai a few years ago and I really liked the Chinese people and culture.
The kindness and the villainess are two approaches very present in your work.
Well, it’s not conscious, but I’m happy that you think that about my works.
Do you believe that we live in a hypocrite world?
Just sometimes, it depends of lots of things.
Would you say that your work is, at the same time, political and artistic?
No, I would like to avoid the politic topic in my works.
And the dramatic conceptualization of your photos – do you usually think ahead about it? Would you be able to tell us about the creative process that you go through until you finish one work?
I do the sketches, and after I try to work them out a lot of times; and if it’s not working cleanly, I won’t continue, because I just like to shoot very clean photographs.
Photography should be seen as a full experience. How often do you think about the way your audience will or could react to your work?
It’s interesting, because lots of people think differently about my photographs, and that’s the best feedback for me.
The untouched landscape, or without any human presence, has often been shot by you. Besides giving you the possibility of timeless images, what are you really looking for?
I like the places where people built something or just left something, but when those people are not actually on the picture.
Do you think that the contemporary photography should obey to some kind of rules, or not at all?
The best is when you don’t comply with the rules.
If you could define visual poetry, what would you say?
I would say that you could call visual poetry to the most honest things, if you represent what is happening in your mind.
Communication is the key for our life, isn’t it?
I absolutely agree with this, but we have lots of ways of communicating.
From all of your work, what series would be closer to the concept of freedom?
My Dignity series.
And among all of your projects, which one was the most meaningful to you?
Point.
What do you consider that it is ephemeral and what is not?
I think Point might be and Dignity not.
