Balazs Gardi The Storm
1.46pm, January 6, 2021, Washington, DC, 2021
Series
For Gardi, the aftermath of the 2020 United States presidential election had the feel of a gathering storm. On 6 January, navigating fumes and rubber bullets while chronicling the attack on the Capitol, Gardi felt the storm had arrived and wondered how this outburst would alter America’s founding principles.
As a young photographer in his native Hungary, Gardi had witnessed how malicious propaganda helped morph a recently liberated Soviet client state into a kleptocracy.
The Storm warns us how easily a privileged society could slide into an Orwellian dystopia. Its central message is that it can happen anywhere.
About the photographer
Budapest, Hungary, 1975
Hungarian
Oakland, California
About Balazs Gardi
Gardi began his career as a photojournalist after studying photography at the Budapesti Komplex SZC Kézművesipari vocational high school, Budapest, and at Cardiff University's School of Journalism in the United Kingdom.
He is known for creating long-form immersive projects that explore the tension between people and their environment. He seeks to highlight the grotesque conflict and surprising beauty that human activity often produces. Gardi devoted more than two decades to capturing the landscape of the war in Afghanistan and has travelled to dozens of countries to survey the far-reaching consequences of the global water crisis.
Numerous solo exhibitions of Gardi’s work have been held, including at the European Parliament, Brussels (2005); DokuFoto, Prizren, Kosovo (2007 and 2008); The New York Photo Festival (2011); and Roca Gallery, Barcelona (2015). He has also participated in group exhibitions at venues including Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (2008); Les Invalides, Paris (2009); The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles (2009); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (2012) and Saatchi Gallery, London (2022).
Gardi has received grants and fellowships from the Alexia Foundation, INK, Magnum Foundation, Reuters Foundation and Getty Images. He is the recipient of the Bayeux Calvados Award for War Correspondents in 2008; the Global Vision Award at Pictures of the Year International in 2009 and three first prizes at World Press Photo.