BELA VARADI
PHOTOGRAPHY

BIO



I was born into a world that had already drawn its borders around my body—Romani, queer, rural. Before I understood language, I understood separation. Inequality was not an idea; it was architecture, geography, and expectation. I make art to expose these inherited distances: between people, places, and possibilities. My work is shaped by departures—leaving the Roma settlement, leaving the capital, leaving the country—each time chasing the space to imagine freedom. My Motherland is memory; My Otherland is strategy. In between, there is art: a tool to resist erasure, reclaim narrative, and demand presence where we were told we don’t belong.​

My practice spans photography, installation, and participatory projects, often centering on themes of identity, displacement, and resistance. My work has been featured in publications such as The Guardian and Balkan Insight. I have exhibited in galleries and institutions including LoosenArt Gallery in Rome, Queer Britain in London, Stiftung Kai Dikhas in Berlin, and most recently, the 2025 Milan Triennale.​



Exhibitions:

Sorry, but I'm Not Sorry - solo exhibition, Kunstbrücke am Wildenbruch, Berlin - 2025

Visual Stories - solo exhibition, Borsodnadasd, Hungary, 2024

CRUISING UTOPIA: SCENES FROM THE ROMA-QUEER IMAGINATION - Foundation Kai Dikhas & Art Space, Berlin, 2024

In Plain Sight - group exhibition, Dartford, Kent - Mick Jagger Centre, 2024

Dubbelexponerat Community Festival - solo exhibition, Göteborg, 2024

Queer Britain - London, 2024  

Queer Festival Heidelberg exhibition - "Queer Heroes in Focus",  2024

BBA One-Shot Award – Berlin, 2023

Del Sarenge Festival di arte romanì in Triennale - Milan, 2023 

Glastonbury Festival - Atchin Tan, 2024

Glastonbury Festival - Atchin Tan, Lead artist 2023 

Glastonbury Festival - Atchin Tan – 2022

A Town Explores a Book Festival - Hasting, 2022


Publications:


Guardian - Hungary’s most deprived people donate blood plasma to survive – photo essay

Balkaninsight - ‘ALL I CAN GIVE IS MY BLOOD’: PLASMA TRADE EXPLOITS HUNGARY’S MOST VULNERABLE

Portrait of Britain, 2023

Doku Books - Best of Documentary & Street Photography, 2023

Searching for Kushti exhibition catalogue, 2022

Carte Blanche Magazine - 2022

J Mane Gallery Magazine -2022

Travellers Times Magazine from 2022


Cultural Partners:

Romani Cultural and Arts Company, Wales (member)

European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) (member) 


Recent photography awards and nominations: 

Gomma Grant 2024 - Finalist

Official Selection - IPA Awards 2024 (ALL I CAN GIVE YOU IS MY BLOOD -PLASMA TRADE EXPLOITS HUNGARY’S MOST VULNERABLE )

Honorable Mention  - Annual Photography Awards 2024 (ALL I CAN GIVE YOU IS MY BLOOD -PLASMA TRADE EXPLOITS HUNGARY’S MOST VULNERABLE )

‘In Plain Sight’ - Habib Hajallie Arts Council funded mentorship & exhibition project titled  at the Mick Jagger Centre in Dartford, 2024

Journalism Excellence Awards - Ethical reporting on Roma and fight against racism and antigypsyism through the media - Shortlisted in photojournalism category, 2024

Fine Art Photography Awards - Conceptual 2nd place winner, 2024 

Fine Art Photography Awards - Photojournalism nominee, 2024

Fine Art Photography Awards - Professional Portrait nominee, 2024

ND Awards, Professional People Portrait honorable mention, 2023

Annual Photography AwardsShortlisted 2024; 

 ND Awards - Shortlisted 2023;  

Moscow Photo Awards - Honourable Mention 2022

Fine Art Photography Awards - Photo Journalist Honourable Mention at 2021, 2022, 2023; 


Other awards and nominations:

Shortlisted for the Arts, Culture and Heritage Award at the Friends Family & Travellers Awards 2024;  

Grand Prize at the Faces of Poverty Documentary Film Festival, 2011, Budapest 

Contact

PHONE: 07775997465

INSTAGRAM

EMAIL:  vt.bela@gmail.com

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