ABSTRACT
With the help of the postcatastrophic narration this chapter attempts to present the contemporary memories of the Shoah in visual arts from Hungary, emphasizing the traumatic dimension of those memories. The postcatastrophic narration seems to be applicable and to serve as an adequate tool for the analysis of the Shoah-related artistic confrontations. The works presented here are from such a young generation of artists who are confronted with the traumatic effect of the collective in Hungary. Three works by contemporary Hungarian artists are discussed with regard to postcatastrophic narration: Never forget! (2016) by the artistic duo Lőrinc Borsos (Lilla Lőrinc and János Borsos), Pride dies last (2014) by Hajnalka Tulisz, and Marcell Esterházy’s On the same Day (2013). The young generation of artists, although often relying on family histories, encounter the experience of the Shoah on a level which might be easily transferable to a collective level. Their works indicate and reflect upon the afterlife of the Shoah in the collective consciousness, helping the process of working through the traumatic experiences, confronting with the national guilt, encouraging the break of the taboo in Hungary in this regard. Since the art production, especially when touching upon social and political issues, is entangled with the politics of memory, the Hungarian specificity of the politics of memory also needs to be addressed. As the image is of crucial importance for the field of art history, it will constitute the starting point for the analysis of the above-mentioned works. The study on these examples shall draw an impression of an aesthetic of the postcatastrophic narration in contemporary art from Hungary.
