The series Melankólia (‘Melancholy’) Satijn Panyigay made in Hungary, her father’s land of origin, where she went to explore her roots.

Panyigay photographed scenes that refer to feelings of loneliness and sadness. With capturing silence in seemingly impersonal in- and exteriors she shows a contaminated emptiness. The atmosphere in the images, which is so palpable in the places she visited in Hungary, refers back to her familiar melancholy.

A new development in her work is admitting sunlight, creating subtle hope and wonder that shine through.

A Hungarian proverb says: ‘The Hungarian has fun when he cries’. That familiarity with heaviness is an ongoing theme in Panyigay’s work.