THE BALLAD OF ETERNAL YOUTH
“father and daughter photographers chronicle nightlife and youth culture 40 years apart”
THE BALLAD OF ETERNAL YOUTH
"A photo book by father and daughter duo Gábor and Wanda Martin, centered around the lives of young people in 1970s socialist Hungary and 2010s London. Not only were these photos taken 40 years and a thousand miles apart, but Wanda had no knowledge of her father’s shots when she took her own, making the similarities between the two sets of images even more striking. This project explores how, whether behind the Iron Curtain, where freedom of expression was restricted, or in the clubs and bars and flats of 21st century East London, the youthful desire to let loose, express yourself, dance and fall in love is a constant. " (Marigold Warner – WePresent)
YOU CAN ORDER THE BOOK ON THE LINKS BELOW
“The Ballad of Eternal Youth” exhibition at the Mai Manó House, Budapest
CONCEPT
“Photographers Wanda Martin and her father Gábor Martin may have spent their twenties 1,000 miles and more than four decades apart – Gábor behind the Iron Curtain in 70s socialist Hungary and Wanda in today’s London – but their joint series on nightlife and youth culture demonstrates that the desire to party is both timeless and universal.” The technique (shot on 35mm black and white negative), the fashions, the hair styles are very similar, apart from some hidden details such as smartphones, laptops or Lenin’s portrait hanging behind the DJ, sometime you can hardly tell the pictures apart, which one was taken in the 70s Hungary , which one was taken in 2010s London. “The drive of the youth has been always the same: forgetting about reality – work, everyday struggles – for some stolen hours and just having fun, dancing, drinking and falling in love, regardless any political regime.” (i-D)
SONGS OF INNOCENCE
AND EXPERIENCE
Self-portrait/collage project on post-modern love.
CONCEPT
I’ve been working as a professional photographer in the last 10 years and during lockdown I had the chance to re-visit my roots and work on this specific personal, conceptual project “SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE”.
It is an ongoing self-portrait collage project that is a reflection on post-modern love and it’s about the clash of expectation sand reality and the clash of idealized unearthly love par excellence and pure reality.
I’ve always been obsessed with paintings of unfulfilled love stories such as Millais’ Ophelia, or Waterhouse’s Lady Shallott – and I often positioned myself into the same role in my own personal life being drawn to relationships that are not destined to last. I also began to romanticize the heartaches throughout the years which resulted in a pattern.
I created self-portraits referencing iconic paintings and heroines from the history of art and also started putting collages together using these images and paint and fragments of texts. I was using scanned details from my favourite books and poems, the descriptions of longing and love, such as Wuthering Heights, Onegin, Red and Black, Sorrows of Young Werther and I simultaneously included handwritten fragments of texts I got throughout the years from lovers, Tinder dates or ex-boyfriends, sometimes beautiful, sometimes painful or sometimes even vulgar messages.The combination of this two I felt was a strong reflection and a constant contemplation on Love. This project has become an art therapy and an empowering
self-reflection.
AURORA – 'Some Type Of Skin' exhibition in London
AURORA – What Happened To The Heart? book
My photo of Aurora at Times Square
LOVERS
CONCEPT
"Wanda Martin is photographing couples of all genders and sexualities in their closest and most intimate quarters: bed.
“My aim was to explore the nature of sexual fluidity and
show the similarity between heterosexual and homosexual relationships,” says Martin. “I try to celebrate love par excellence and show that love and sexuality don’t depend on sex or gender, only on the person. I’m shooting couples in their own rooms, in their private environment.” (Dazed)