“…And I am their little servant…” detail from the installation
2026
digital photograph, archive photograph, AI-generated image printed on plexiglass, handwritten notebook sheet
29,7 × 21 cm
My new work is based on my paternal grandmother, Rozália Balla’s drawings, in which the story of a life radically different from my own unfolds: she worked as a domestic servant from the age of seven, while I, as an artist, am constructing this project from her memories. Rozália was born in Szentes in 1914. She began working as a servant at the age of seven and was married off while still young. She gave birth to nine children, and her life was defined by continuous labour. Her drawings were made in the late 1970s, during a period of illness, when she first had the time to reflect on her own life. In this project, I evoke my grandmother’s life story through her drawings, to which a further layer is added, composed of AIgenerated images that resemble photographs. Printed on plexiglass, these are subsequently distorted by heat, rendering the relationship between image and reality uncertain. My grandmother’s story and the perspective of my own life are presented side by side: the life paths of two women intersect as part of the same family history but shaped by radically different possibilities.
photo: Gőbölyös Luca
Luca Gőbölyös
(1969, Budapest)
Luca Gőbölyös is a photography artist recognized by numerous Hungarian and international awards. Her works have been exhibited in prestigious venues, including Expo Chicago, the Ludwig Museum (Budapest), the Istanbul Biennial, the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi), the Vienna Art Fair and the Walter Bischoff Gallery (Berlin). She pursued her studies at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), where she received her MA (1994) and DLA (2005) degrees, while she obtained her MFA (1998) at the University of Brighton on a British Council scholarship. In 2016, she habilitated at MOME. In 2009, she founded the photography programme at the Budapest Metropolitan University (METU) and remained its head for 12 years. She is currently an associate professor at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs, director of the Institute of Design and Media, and head of the Department of Photography. Her works can be found in numerous public and private collections. She is represented by the Knoll Gallery (Vienna–Budapest).