Mario Bihari is a well-known Romany musician from Slovakia who has lived and performed in Prague for many years. Although he has been blind since childhood, Bihari has begun using a new medium of expression: photography. He collaborates with photographer Bjorn Steinz to create images that share an aspect of the musician's subjective experience.
Blind Romany Musician Uses Photography 'To Capture Music'
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Bihari says he associates colors with music, and instructs his photographic collaborates to add color to the final images.
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In Bihari's musical imagination, a violin sounds red, while a flute sounds blue.
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Bihari's friend Alenka. Bihari began photographing by choosing subjects that he could touch and arrange as he wanted.
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Bihari's friend Nelson
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Alenka
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"I thought that I could always capture what I hear – the way people play," Bihari says of his photography. "I press the shutter during a section of music when I believe that I feel what the musicians are experiencing."
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"You never know if it works," Bihari said. "I only know when I show pictures to someone and ask people what they like about it."
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Bihari took photographs of Romany musicians in Jarovnice, the largest Romany settlement in Slovakia.
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"Of course I enjoy photographing, but also the feeling of anticipation, to learn if an image works or not, and eventually making it into what I want," he says.
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Bihari poses in front of his photographs at an exhibition in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
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Bihari takes a picture of his university friend Jarek for a project titled "Music In Images." The project was documented by fellow photographer Bjorn Steinz, who collaborates with Bihari on his photographic work.
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Bihari in Jarovnice, Slovakia, during his project photographing Romany musicians
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Bihari plays the accordion in Jarovnice.
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Bihari's guide dog, Harley
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A Czech Television crew films Bihari in Prague in 2009.
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A performance in Prague in 2012
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At home with his family in the Zizkov neighborhood of Prague
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Bihari and his band, Bachtale Apsa, perform for a live recording session in Prague in March 2013.
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Bihari and his family walk through Prague.