the tribal chief

2015-2016

“I can barely remember my childhood. My parents worked in a metal and steel factory. They had a buffet—peeling potatoes, boiling eggs—our lives revolved around these. Nobody ever visited us. My parents dismantled the ring so that no intruder could ever enter our home. ‘Our home, our castle,’ they would often say. I discovered life carefully. When my parents were out, I would secretly listen to Abba and Boney M. The music thumped, and I was the tribe, and I was the tribal chief. I protected my home and my castle. I think I was happy.”

The Tribal Chief is a monologue photo-diary. It flashes memories from the life of a middle-aged man, starting with the loneliness of childhood, continuing through parental disinheritance following his coming out, and later leading us to public toilets, sex cinemas, and the gloomy world of Budapest’s People’s Park. The main character is fulfilling a mission: he is obsessively chasing happiness. The side characters he meets temporarily during his exploration are mostly unknown. Lilla Szász’s latest project provides a glimpse into a story where the concepts of loneliness and intimacy become relative.

A zine version of the series was published in 2016 by tranzit.hu in Budapest.

main exhibitions:

2019: We will not change our show. The House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic (curator: Gyula Muskovics and Martin Vaněk)
2016: Our heart is a foreign country. The Studio of Young Artists Association, Budapest (curator: Gyula Muskovics, Andi Soós)