Illés Sarkantyu

Illés Sarkantyu

Born in 1977 in Hungary, lives and works in France.

The issues of absence and presence, memory and heritage feed Illés Sarkantyu’s work, which is distinguished by its precision, its mastery of light and technique. However, sophistication is not the goal. This precise use of photography no longer makes it a means of reproduction, but the tool for amplified access to the world.

As an investigator, historian, archaeologist, or simple witness, Illés Sarkantyu exhumes images and traces of history that he revisits through his own photographs. His images function as clues in an effort to reconstitute a narrative or a given moment, as if in an attempt to compensate for the deficit of memories.

lllés Sarkantyu does not like art for art’s sake but for the sake of awakening. Yes, to use a famous expression, “art is what makes life more interesting than art”, because in it the concern for the world develops.
Pierre Wat