The main characters of Melancholy of Freedom are families and individuals from different age groups who left Hungary at different times and for different reasons to
carry on living in Berlin. “Viewed in a broader context, this series depicts a typical emigration process, with many people choosing to move to a new country decades following the change of the regime; initially in the hope of better opportunities, whereas nowadays the reason of choosing a new country of residence is due to the ever-shrinking space for freedom at home. However, as the title suggests, emigration is fraught with difficulties – not necessarily and not always fulfilling the promise of the life we want. Therefore I aspire to understand those who are willing to under- take this simultaneously liberating and melancholic ex- perience, and why and how they do it’’ (Judit Gellér). In my photo series Berlin appears as a symbolic scene: the city of freedom and a metaphor for the contrast between East and West, a Western city where the old communist monuments in their new, constantly chang- ing context are still visible.