The painting on the canvas is of a man playing chess with a robot; the color on the man's face is still damp and glistening.
asserted
color → play → face
Norbert Olah was working into the early hours at the Bura Galeria in Budapest, his studio for the summer.
asserted
Olah → work → summer
He finds it easiest to concentrate at night, when the Hungarian capital gradually falls silent.
asserted
capital → find → night
Olah has taped foil and cardboard over the tiled floor at the back of the gallery.
asserted
Olah → tap → gallery
Pots of brushes, tubes of paint, pencil sketches, and, over and over again, pictures that include the blue-and-green Roma flag line the room.
asserted
that → include → room
For a long time, he deliberately left this part of his identity out of his art.
asserted
he → leave → art
Not because his ethnicity wasn't important to him, but because he didn't want to be labeled a "Romani artist
asserted
he → want → him
"There are so many prejudices about Roma culture and Roma art," said Olah.
asserted
Olah → be → culture
"The art scene regards it as naive, unprofessional, unsophisticated and kitsch.
asserted
scene → regard → it
But the older Olah got, the harder he found it to ignore his own story in his art.
asserted
it → get → art
Life under Orban
The first time Viktor Orban's Fidesz party won an absolute majority in the Hungarian parliamentary election in 2010, Olah had just finished school and was starting his art course at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest.
asserted
Olah → win → Budapest
At a time of life when the world ought to be opening up, Olah felt that more and more barriers were being erected.
asserted
barriers → open → life
Olah was directly affected by Hungary's political reorientation, as both an artist and a Romani.
asserted
Olah → affect → artist
Politics co-opted the cultural scene and made it toe the party line.
asserted
it → co → line
Roma became the target of hateful rhetoric, including from the prime minister himself.
asserted
Roma → become → minister
Orban repeatedly called attention to himself with racist comments about Roma.
asserted
Orban → call → Roma
For the 16 years Orban was in power, Hungary's Roma population, estimated to be around 700,000 people, was caught between official promises of integration and persistent marginalization.
asserted
population → estimate → integration
Orban's government introduced a state employment program that hired predominantly Romani workers.
asserted
that → introduce → workers
But instead of helping them gain a foothold in the job market, many Romani found themselves trapped in insecure, poorly paid temporary jobs.
asserted
themselves → help → jobs
The government did little to implement real change.
asserted
government → do → change
Romani in Hungary are still disproportionately affected by poverty and social exclusion.
asserted
Romani → affect → poverty
There came a point when Olah felt he could no longer stand by and do nothing.
uncertain
he → come → nothing
In 2021, during Hungary's biggest independent contemporary art event, the OFF-Biennale Budapest, Olah and his father laid a brick wall directly in front of the entrance to the building that had housed the Roma Parliament, a Roma cultural center with an art collection, archive, library and events program.
asserted
that → lay → collection
The Orban government evicted the center in 2016, saying the building was structurally dangerous.
asserted
building → evict → 2016
It promised to repurpose it as a national Roma center, but it has stood empty ever since.
asserted
it → promise → center
Words like "integration," "assimilation" and "segregation" were chiseled into the bricks.
asserted
Words → chisel → bricks
A few weeks later, Olah staged a performance in which he took a sledgehammer to his artwork and smashed it until it collapsed.
asserted
it → stag → it
In an accompanying text, Olah wrote publicly for the first time about the fears, prejudices and expectations he encounters as an artist with Roma roots.
asserted
he → accompany → roots
The text is full of questions: Should a Romani artist's work focus on topics relevant to Roma?
asserted
work → focus → Roma
Would people only contact an artist with Roma roots if they were specifically looking for a Romani artist, or would they do so if they needed a Hungarian artist, too?
asserted
they → contact → artist
"Of course we're always looking for answers.
asserted
we → look → answers
But sometimes it's more interesting to look at the question itself," said Olah, picking a piece of crepe masking tape off the floor.
asserted
Olah → look → floor
"If it feels uncomfortable, it's a good question."
asserted
it → feel → ?
And so Olah has created a new label for Romani artists.
asserted
Olah → create → artists
The Bura Galeria, established by Romani activists in 2021 in Budapest's District VIII, has become a platform for contemporary Roma art.
asserted
Galeria → establish → art
"We're not asking to be accepted by the art scene," said Olah.
asserted
Olah → ask → scene
"We're opening the door and inviting others in."
Open antiziganism
Identity and exclusion, power and the misuse of power — these became central themes for Olah's artistic work.
asserted
these → open → work
He had no lack of inspiration during the Orban years.
asserted
He → have → years
Although Fidesz's policies were hardly favorable to Roma, Orban's party could, for a long time, count on Roma votes — for example, because local employment programs enabled local politicians to pressure socially underprivileged voters.
uncertain
programs → count → voters
Fidesz was so confident that the majority of Roma would continue to vote for it that it openly fueled the antiziganism still widespread in Hungarian society.
asserted
it → continue → society
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
