Alíz KovácsZöldi
This year we visited 30 undergraduate degree shows and Alíz Kovács-Zöldi is the winner of this inaugural award
The recipient of our first Student Photographer of the Year award is Hungarian photographer and Cambridge School of Art graduate Alíz Kovács-Zöldi. Alíz studied film and media at high school in Hungary, but decided to take a different path. She recalls, ‘I always had photography on the side and the dream that one day I might turn professional. I really felt alive and calm when out and about taking photos and exploring places.’
She moved to Cambridge in 2016 and not long after saved up for her first DSLR. In her free time she was learning about photography, and it soon became apparent that she wanted to push herself. She applied for a BA Photography course and at the age of 27 Alíz was accepted to Cambridge School of Art.
The Journey Within
The pandemic had a powerful impact on us all, but common emotions felt throughout included anxiety, sadness and anger. Alíz’s project The Journey Within was inspired by her personal experience during the pandemic, and the mental health challenges faced.
She said, ‘As the lockdowns dragged on, time seemed surreal and stagnant and I was stuck with anxiety, and a lack of creative drive in my tiny room. I turned to mindfulness practices, and also took up a new hobby collecting plants.
‘I began to pay attention to how a new leaf started growing. It prompted me to think, and I realised even though I felt stuck, life was changing around me and like this leaf I must have been growing too.
‘I wanted to channel the experience of isolation and anxiety, and how the care for plants helped me, into my third-year project. While researching, I came across a theory called the hero’s journey. It explains that all hero myths and stories share the same stages regardless of their origins. In movies and books, you can see this template: the hero embarks on an adventure, faces crisis that he overcomes then returns with a treasure only to realise he is not the same person who left for the journey,’ she continued.
‘Reading about this theory I found that the challenges I faced in isolation echoed the stages detailed in the book, so I decided to use it to help create a narrative for my series.’
Alíz was also inspired by Silvia Rosi’s self-portrait project for Care/ Contagion/Community – Self & Other as well as Hendrik Kersten’s portraits of his daughter, which influenced her to explore chiaroscuro techniques. All of the photographs were taken using a Hasselblad X1D II 50C and Hasselblad XCD 65mm lens.
She worked in a studio with a model, but soon turned the camera on herself, given the personal nature of the project. Not only did she go on to produce a technically well-made series of photographs with a skilled use of chiaroscuro, the project helped her gain closure. ‘It made me see the pandemic not just as a personal challenge but also as a collective one in which we are heroes of our own stories having jointly embarked on the same journey.’
See more at alizphoto.com; @aliz.kovacs.photo.