Mrs. Raab wants to go home

The photographer Zoltán Jókay (*1960) has been exploring the possibilities and limitations of interpersonal relationships for over 25 years. His latest project, Mrs. Raab wants to go home, focusses on human sociality from the perspective of the greatest solitude possible.

Jókay has been working since 2007 as a carer in a home for the elderly located in a low-income district on the outskirts of Munich. More recently, he has been dealing specifically with people suffering from dementia.

The people Jókay encounters there are limited in their ability to look out for themselves and their own interests. In addition to the loss of personal autonomy and the capacity to live within their own four walls, there is the loss of memory. While solitude is not exclusively dependent on whether you are rich or poor, it is certainly the fate of those no longer able to purchase respect and dignity.

Jókay reacts to this situation by trying to restore the dignity and individuality often denied by circumstances, to all those he works with and cares for. After two years he began taking photos, and, over the next three years, produced a comprehensive series of over 60 pictures – a series imbued with both lyrical magic and brutal honesty.

Further information available at: Sprengel Museum