For 14 years András Ladocsi swam competitively, at his peak training 15 times a week and racing alongside his fellow countryman László Cseh, Hungary’s six-time Olympic medalist. When he quit he took up diving, navigating his fear of heights away from the pool by jumping into the Danube river. Today, his relationship with water is a pervading factor in much of his photography, notably the ongoing series There is a big river, in which there is a big island, in which there is a lake, in which there is an island, in which there is a small house, where life is growing in a womb, currently on display at Luma Arles as part of the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents, now in its sixth iteration.
“Just being in a swimming pool, that’s super majestic. I love the smell, the atmosphere, the environment. It’s beautiful for me because of the memories, and the architecture of what’s going on in a pool,” explains András over Zoom, dressed in a pale blue T-shirt that only further qualifies his position (he’s also an Aquarius, while one of his close collaborators is called Reka, a Hungarian name meaning ‘river’). “Water pops up on multiple levels in this project, thinking about liquid and our bodies, and how water connects us,” he continues, alluding to both the physical and more abstract aspects of the association.
Mostly preoccupied with science at high school – early on he had loose intentions of becoming a dentist – András later leaned into the arts, experimenting with graffiti before adopting photography. His first pictures were of his sister, who has Down’s syndrome. “Our relationship is a bit different from a regular brother and sister relationship,” he remarks of their bond and the impetus for capturing it. “Then the head of the art department pushed me further and further [with the work], and I decided to drop all my sports activities and go to Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, the same university as all my friends.”
His friends, many of whom followed similarly creative paths (working now in architecture, design and fashion), are another key component of his practice, playing both subject and principle influence. “Most of them are really clever, so it’s just great to be surrounded by them,” he notes of their impact. While this sense of connection – and the wider bond one feels with their environment – is the nucleus of the series, it’s not the only thing he hopes to showcase in the work. “The most important thing is to have trust, but I’m consciously putting some strangers in the project as well, to make it as real as possible. The project needed it, because we meet strangers every day.”
Taking its 38-word moniker from an actual conversation the photographer had with a friend while renovating a house on an island circled by the Danube, There is a big river… foregrounds the photographer’s interest in movement. It’s evident in his images of men wrestling, their explicit physicality and naked skin also highlighting his regard for the body. “That comes from swimming as well, because we don’t really wear any clothes. It’s bare skin most of the day, and it always felt natural for me,” says András of centring bodies and flesh in his photographs. “Fashion starts with the body, [this idea of] how we wear our self in general, then comes the other layers. That intrigues me, on the base level of how consciously we think and act.”
Recently graduating from the MA programme at London’s Royal College of Art – an experience András finds hard to unpack, on account of his moving to London being almost in tandem with the arrival of the pandemic – the photographer has already built up a compelling portfolio. Prior to the recognition from Dior and Luma Arles, in 2020 he received the American Vintage award at Hyères, while earlier this year he took home the PhMuseum 2023 Photography Grant 2nd Prize, and Bottega Veneta and Frank Ocean’s Homer are already clients. The latter especially, initiated via DMs from the Blonde singer during the period when András’s lectures had moved solely to Zoom, was a particular highlight. “I always wanted to go to New York, that was my childhood dream, and they got me to New York,” he says. “The Homer team are some of the most talented people, and I was shooting in Milan, I was taking portraits of Frank, shooting where they produce the diamonds…”
Currently back in Hungary (though he’s typically based in Paris, a decision informed partly by Brexit and partly on the advice of older industry figures), András is enjoying a summer with family while work on a short movie project with a friend begins. After the current Dior group show in France, the photographer plans to make a book, bringing together the full There is a big river… series into something more tangible that honours the project’s rich intimacy. “I presented a dummy at my degree show and now I’m just looking for the right publisher,” he says. Watch this space.
András Ladocsi’s work will be part of the exhibition for Dior’s Photography and Visual Awards Award for Young Talents, alongside 11 other finalists. The show runs until 24 September in the Grande Halle at Luma Arles.
Credits
Imagery courtesy of András Ladocsi and Parfums Christian Dior