Dilemma I.-II.

2025, giclée print on dibond, 20 x 30 cm

In the work Dilemma, a mirrored version of Esterházy’s great-grandmother Margit Károlyi’s passport portrait appears—back-to-back and face-to-face. The diptych evokes not only the existential question of whether to leave or stay but also addresses the historical constructedness of representation and identity. Thus, the portrait conveys not only an individual fate but also a collective experience: emigration, staying, loyalty, and escape—the dilemmas of the 20th and 21st centuries. At the same time, the work invites parallels with the representation of female identity and the intimate consequences of political decisions.

text: Fruzsina Kígyós