Photography exhibition reveals haunting post-Communist scenes from Romania and Hungary

Tamas Dezso: Notes for an Epilogue runs from 17 April at the Photographers' Gallery in London

Carpet Sellers (Tamas Dezso)

The stories I got to know as a press photographer required me to examine them more deeply, whether in Hungary or Romania, and to contemplate and think over, even for years, what I have seen.

In the case of the Romanian photographs, I observed the events as an onlooker (I'm from Budapest). I didn't intend to form an opinion. I was not protesting against something. I presented what I had seen.

The situation is different with the Hungarian images. There I see from inside the processes which lead to bad directions: the impoverishment concerning half the country, the activity of a populist government that is drawing away from European values, and the neo-Nazi movements, which are appearing with renewed force.

It's a surprisingly natural thing for members of cut-off communities to open up when a curious stranger drops in. They are proud of their traditions and the environment they have created and maintained with hard work.

Tamas Dezso: Notes for an Epilogue runs from 17 April at the Photographers' Gallery, London W1