Cataract

Cataract is a gradual loss of the fine tonal differences in our sight, the world slowly becoming monochrome.

Faced with adversity, photographers behind the Iron Curtain took challenges to propel them to new heights. Szász carried out late-night work in the bathroom-turned laboratory while his family was asleep, perfecting his unique enlargement procedur. This meant long hours of painstaking focus in poor light conditions. As an effect, the artist had to endure a slow but steady loss of sight, which forced him to hang up the camera in 1980.

Some art historians believe that the unique, individual vision of the artist, his bleached whites and dark-soupy blacks were a result of his cataract: he was probing into the depths of light and shadow, fighting against the world becoming monochrome.