Portraits: Monika and Mazsi
The photo exhibition Monica and Mazsi will be opened in Belgrade, in the Kula Gallery (Cetinjska 15a) on Saturday, September 25, at 7 pm, as part of the Todo Mundo festival. The author, photographer Janez Marolt, will also be at the opening. During the festival days, in the period from September 25 to 28, all who are interested can visit and see this extraordinary series of portraits dedicated to Hungarian Roma artists – Lakatos Mónika and Mazsi Mihály Rostás.
In addition to the international conference Women in the World Music: Artists, Managers, Journalists…, as well as the awarding of the Vojin Mališa Draškoci prize (which will be awarded by the World Music Association of Serbia within the Todo Mundo Festival), the accompanying program of the festival’s ninth edition also includes an photo exhibition by Slovenian author Janez Marolt entitled Monika and Mazsi.
The exhibition, as well as the concert of the Monika Lakatos Folk Trio was supported by Collegium Hungaricum Belgrade.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
How did the series of portraits of Lakatos Mónika and Mazsi Mihály Rostás come about? Its author, Janez Marolt, was at the concert of Monica and Mazsi in January 2019 as part of the Pinela’s Living Room concert series, which is regularly organized by Rok Košir in Ljubljana, in his living room. Monika and Mazsi were very interesting to Janez, so he suggested to photograph them and make portraits. The next day they came to Janez’s studio and then these extraordinary photos were taken. The exhibition of Monica and Mazsi was premiered at the Hungarian Cultural Center in Ljubljana and lasted from April 7 to September 11, 2020.
Regarding the exhibition in Belgrade, its author says: “The photographs of Monica Lakatos and Mazsi Mihaly Rostas are portraits that are dear to me in a special way. They are made for the soul. When I think of the day I photographed them, I am reminded of how close and similar all of us humans are in fundamental things, regardless of where someone was born and what language he speaks.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janez Marolt was born in Ljubljana in 1981. After primary school, he attended the Poljane High School. Within school photo club Janez’s interest in photography turned into a passion. He continued his education at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana. Through a student exchange, he spent a year at the Faculty of Architecture in Valencia (Spain) and during that time he also attended photography classes at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Valencia. During that period, he prepared a photograph for his exhibition dedicated to the work of the architect Santiago Calatrava. He graduated in architecture from Professor Janez Koželj. Although he enjoyed the profession of an architect, Janez’s interest in photography grew stronger during his studies, and since 2009, photography has become his only occupation. He is still very much engaged in photography of architecture, for which his official education is of a great help. In addition, he is very dedicated to portraits. Occasionally he has his own exhibitions. His photographs can be found in magazines in Slovenia (Hiše, Outsider, Playboy, Finance, Delo in dom, City magazine), abroad (Oris, Häuser, Elle Decors), as well as on the Internet (archdaily.com, divisare.com, designboom.com, domusweb.it, architizer.com, dwell.com etc).
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