Katalin Kortmann-Járay (1986, Budapest, lives and works in Budapest) and Karina Mendreczky (1988, Budapest, lives and works in Vienna and Budapest) have been working together since 2019.
In large-scale, often site-specific installations they combine different materials and media, from archival photography and textiles to metal objects. Their works are often centred around forgotten, repressed female characters or narratives about them, while also being inspired by processes of memory, religious-spiritual traditions and the rediscovery of non-Western knowledges.
Winner of the 2023 Esterházy Art Award, they exhibited internationally for example at Q21 Salon, Parallel Vienna and Ani Molnár Gallery. Their installation in Budapest Gallery is inspired by the transcript of Hungarian witch trials and depicts the „sins” of a convicted woman (1681, Debrecen), Mrs Gergely Szabó, such as „looking at the stars and moon” and „consorting with the devil”. Special emphasis is also given to activities – such as healing or midwifery – that women accused of witchcraft performed in a particular community.