Photographed May 5, 2023

This album is a continuation of my previous album SZALAGAVATÓ - HUNGARIAN PROM and most of the insights from that previous album are valid for understanding this one’s context. On this occasion, however, I took a more classical approach to the photography, in order to capture the faces of the people whose young family members are going through this liminal (transitional) ritual and the atmosphere of the place.

I was somewhat intrigued by how quickly the graduation ended and created a vacuum while people began to disappear for photo shoots and private celebrations. The hustle and bustle of the school's operations apparently required that the field where the graduation certificates were handed out be cleared out soon after the ceremony. Just as this event is a liminal ritual for students who are transitioning from one stage of life to the next, even on the cusp of adulthood, this is a liminal ritual for the school itself that will change by getting rid of the next generation of its students. It's not just a transition period in the long run in terms of the school, but also on that particular day in terms of that particular place. It's going through a transformation where it has to be decorated properly first, which is something that they are keen on in Hungary. They hang lilacs and other branches on the playground fence, and there are lots of flowers and ribbons everywhere. But as soon as the festivities are over, the place starts to be tidied up, cleansed. Although the place doesn't change in the sense of transition from one phase before graduation to another phase after graduation, it goes through many liminal moments during the day when the place is being transformed to be ready for the ceremony, and then for the normal operations of the school. In a way, it is thus a small-scale representation of what the students go through as well.