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Illegitimi non carborundum by Naomi Szabo (Hungary)

To become refugees not only means that we are being forced to leave our country by the result of the armed struggle and the overall violence. This is also an inner persecution, as you loose your formerly known security, which involves a breach of the peace of mind and the human rights.


This process could be followed in the best way by the children’s development. This is not a voluntary trip, but this is where you may just carry those that you can just grip your hands instead of any treasures and values.


Refugee children have no home anymore, not even their country. The orphaned children whom are torn from their families require a special care. The safety and shelter are the primary and most important for them.

Naomi Szabo, Hungarian-born painter advocates the protection of children by strengthening the intimate connection between each other. Her painting called ‘Illegitimate non Carborundum’ speaks to it. As history relates, this Latin quote was the legendary scribe carved into the walls of the refugee camps during the war. This sentence is the belief of perseverance compressed into ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down’ motto. The world of legends and fairy tales preserve the giant trials. Hans Christian Andersen, Danish fairy tale writer’s world-famous famous story “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” became one of the finest examples of an ability to overcome unfeasible odds through deep belief.


On this painting the motif of half standing figure in the small boat burnt into the tracing paper, refers to the fairy tale. This image is talking about the duality of centralized rules, the repressive powers and the victory of the individual and the spirit, and the perseverance as well, through the children’s point of view.


On this painting Szabo, using the human body as a central tool, calls attention to the situation of refugees. Today, thousands of people are forced to immigrate, stepping over the boundaries of their country. It is estimated that nearly half of the refugees are children. Many of them are unable to know other options, leave their home feeling the fear because of abuse. Sometimes they have to escape because of the country, where they live, got involved in war or civil war, creating them unworthy living. There are so many reasons that young children generally do not understand.


Illegitimi non carborundum by Naomi Szabo

Her picture shows that the children’s nakedness emphasizes their vulnerability and innocence with uncovered sincerity against the world heated by violence. Research of the body of complex symbols and gestures has become her favourite means of expression and the featured motif of her faceless-body images since her university years.


Most of the work of the body appears with its weaknesses, defects and deformations together, unlike the ideal and perfect young body suggested by the media. This is an honest resolution, where the faithful presentation of its own reality is the only yardstick.


Naomi Szabo, a young Hungarian-born painter was born in a small industrial town in Hungary, East-Central Europe. After studying in various art schools, she graduated from Painting and Visual Communication Teacher at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, in Budapest. Her paintings have been displayed on lots of exhibitions in Europe, Budapest, Munich and London as well.


She uses mixed technique, experimenting with different materials and surfaces, finding balance in merging them: acrylic and oil paint, texture material, enamel or airbrush technique, canvas and wood and she sometimes cuts into the fibers. She often divides her paintings: one picture is a compound of two or more pieces. She even may sacrifice her figures occasionally by painting only parts of them to shape a unique composition.


She is preparing her individual anonymous faceless body images as a medium of expression and has remained a subject of her fans.


In this process, I found that the body as a complex symbol can be the most effective tool in my paintings. These gestures and body images can be more trustworthy areas for me to communicate unconscious behaviors and communication of attitudes.

Depth of term forms a unity with the defective parts together. This fragmentation can be interpreted by the assistance of viewer, and finally the work is put together into the whole. She expects the reverse effect to work in the viewers and she attempts to filter their recognitions and their uniqueness through the general history.


As a member of World Citizen Artists, I would like to focus on the young generation and call attention to their problems and different roles through my paintings. I believe in the capacity of change which can be solved by the connection with oneself and others.


Our responsibility is to help through creativity. This process could be the best way to contribute to children’s development. Our desires are glowing bubbles since our childhood. As grown up, we usually forget about them and they burst before they could fly towards. When the viewer is looking at my work finds out and realises that its world through mine becomes the viewer’s world as well. By this process we will vivify the world within you, which may have disappeared or become worn over time. Feelings and desires may become apparent in this way, which have long been forgotten, or perhaps seemed inaccessible.

I am fond of organising events, exhibitions and special workshops working with organisations and associations where the viewers can not just look at the images but they can take the opportunity to act on their own life using special tools of creativity.


The pioneer of higher cognition, Rudolf Steiner’s thoughts illustrate impressively the language of hidden wonders and discoveries in every day existence:

“Life in its wholeness is like a plant. The plant contains not only what it offers to external life, but it also holds a future state within its hidden depths. One who views a plant just leafing knows very well that after awhile there will be flowers and fruit also on the leaf-bearing stems. But how could one ever tell what those new organs will look like? This can only be told by one who has learned to know the very nature and being of the plant.” 

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