My Treasure, Your Treasure, His/Her Treasure
2000
Object, wallet photos,
150 x 100 cm

Kincsem, kincsed, kincse
2000
objekt, pénztárcás fotók,
150 x 100 cm



In the portrait gallery arranged in a collage, emptied wallets tell us of their owners. They probably explain more about us than if we would be looking at full-length photos. In addition to money, transport passes, ids, credit cards, name cards, reminders, and bills, there are the other "treasured treasures": pictures of family members, friends, pets. It seems as if money draws these other kinds of treasures to itself. Besides mapping the financial coordinates of the owner, one can read into thier emotions as well. There is something very intimate about how we settle into our wallets and how the pockets and panels fill up with photos. It is just as improper to look into someone's wallet as it is to stare in their window, and if a picture sometimes flashes out of a wallet by accident, we feel like we are peeping even more so if we look even then.

Gabriella Bartha