VOX VICTIMAE
VOX VICTIMAE
[2025]
photobook [20x25cm, swiss bind]
VOX VICTIMAE
[2025], photobook, 20x25cm, swiss bind, published by SYMPOSION
How does a living being become a victim? When did we become so detached from life that we built systems around it to decide who is worthy of living? What happens when we are not worthy? Who is it that selects, categorises, decides – and who empowered them? Sacrifice was originally a sacred act; today we make sacrifices, we become victims on the altar of power, political ideologies and scientific progress instead of gods. Which body becomes a tool, a sacrifice, and which remains protected? What happens when we no longer defend life, but the system? Who is to say what is life and what is not? “Man is the cruellest animal.” – writes Nietzsche. But is it really the animal that is cruel or is it man who can build a system around cruelty?
In my work, I examine these questions. I am interested in the boundary between art and science, with a particular focus on microscopes as alternative image-making tools. The book presents images of cross-sections of animal organs and tissues, as well as phase photographs of apoptosis (artificially induced cell death) in the HeLa cell line, rendered in abstracted and distorted forms. I investigate the mechanisms of victimization and the exercise of power, which appear in the book through animals, while aiming to draw parallels with similar processes operating within human society.
Developed in collaboration with the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, with Dr Anna Szilasi and Dr József Rátky, and Széchenyi István University, with Dr Zoltán Kerényi and Dr Ferenc Bánáti. Their expertise contributed to the scientific research underpinning the project.
product photos by Gyula Bezzeg
PRESS
hvg.hu
“The photobook serves as a kind of wake-up call, drawing attention to the need to question fundamental systems of rules in every era – after all, the essence of power lies in its ability to conceal itself, often hiding in the smallest details. Vox Victimæ speaks for those who have no voice, while leaving open the question of whether these voices can ever be heard in the future.” – Lilla Bényi
punkt.hu
“Emma Varga takes Nietzsche’s concept of cruelty as a starting point to ask: how does a living being become a systemic victim? The book traces the critical metamorphosis of sacred sacrifice in the modern world, where political ideologies and the altars of scientific progress have taken the place once occupied by deities. The visual narrative does more than document; it also provokes. Still-life-like compositions transpose the classical tradition of memento mori into the technological age, confronting us with the mechanisms that determine which forms of life are deemed worthy of protection and which bodies become mere instruments. Vox Victimæ thus becomes a visual memento of vulnerability and power hierarchies, bringing to the surface the deepest and most fragile layers of biological existence despite its technological mediation.” – Rita Somosi
SEE SUPPORTING RESEARCH [THESIS] BELOW IN HUNGARIAN AND ENGLISH:
THE PHOTOBOOK IS FINALLY PUBLISHED!
