Photojournalism nominee

The Holocaust continues to affect human destinies today; for example, the French-born Sophie, whose family gave up her Gypsy name due to fear of the Nazis, was raised to have no Gypsy identity. This year(2022), Shopie went to the patron saint of the gipsies in France for the first time to get closer to his lost identity.

The small French seaside town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer holds one of the most important religious gypsy festivals every year on May 24th and 25th. Hundreds and thousands of Gypsies, Travelers, Roma and Gypsies flock to the handful of streets in the Provençal port city to celebrate the patron saint of Gypsies, Sara-la-Kali or Saint Sarah.

I deliberately overexposed most of the pictures. With this method, I tried to convey the significance of the event, its spiritual and mental pressure on the participants, especially on Sophie.

I am a Romani and queer artist working with photography, installation, and participatory practices. My work explores identity, displacement, and resistance, confronting the ways marginalized communities are erased or misrepresented. Through visual storytelling, I reclaim narratives that expose inequality and open space for presence. My projects have been published in The Guardian and Balkan Insight, and exhibited internationally in institutions such as Queer Britain (London), Stiftung Kai Dikhas (Berlin), LoosenArt Gallery (Rome), and the 2025 Milan Triennale. Most recently, my work is featured alongside Delaine Le Bas and other queer artists in Stranger in Silver Walking on Air at The White House, Dagenham.

- Scholarship holder - (HU) Józsefváros 30+ Artistic Creative Support in Memory of Lajos Balogh - 2025
Gomma Grant 2024 - Finalist
- Official Selection - IPA Awards 2024
- Honorable Mention - Annual Photography Awards 2024
- In Plain Sight’ - Habib Hajallie Arts Council funded mentorship & exhibition project, 2024
-Journalism Excellence Awards - Ethical reporting on Roma and fight against racism and antigypsyism, Shortlisted in photojournalism category, 2024
- Annual Photography Awards - Shortlisted 2023-2024
- Fine Art Photography Awards - Conceptual 2nd place winner, 2024
- FAPA Professional Portrait, Photojournalism, People nominee, 2022-25