From Budapest, Hungary, TPSRPRT redefines instrumental music by mixing genres, tunes and rhythms that shouldn’t necessarily work together, merging into a surreal harmony. They are rebels who believe in inclusivity, freedom, and unconventional love by creating music with passion, creativity and a pinch of humour in a small Eastern European country in defiance of the conservative cultural leadership.



Rebel, rebel - Not playing by their rules

During the last year, we were challenging our love in several ways. We renovated our apartment, we were in a long-distance relationship, we moved to another country, we lived together in a very small space, and now we are in quarantine together during a lockdown due to an unexpected global pandemic. It has been a rough road but eventually, we are standing together stronger than ever with a strangely calm feeling after seeing each other's best and worst and still not losing what brought us together back then. This strange darkness has some beautiful light hidden in it. After all, we are in this together. All of us.

For this project, I took a silhouette photo of myself a few days after the end of the lockdown in Budapest and mixed it by double exposure with a photo I took in London a few days before the start of the lockdown there, on the day I traveled back to Hungary. What happened between is something I've never expected to experience. Being in lockdown for almost three months was really challenging both mentally and physically. As the streets got empty and calm, my mind became chaotic and tense.

In between

Chris, my partner for 5 years had a very rough phase during our self-isolation when he felt everything in his life was collapsing. We were talking for hours, sometimes just staring at each other, I really wanted to help him but felt unable and lack of control. I left him for a while to gather my thoughts, then I found him on the patio with these threatening stormy clouds behind him. I took this photo of him, standing in the emerging thunderstorm, while he was dealing with the one inside him.

STORM

My visual diary during the global Covid-19 pandemic, being in lockdown in Budapest, Hungary.


My stuff was already packed. I was just about to move to a new apartment in London. A few days before we were joking about people taking this whole thing too seriously. Now the Hungarian government is closing down the borders. I already had a plane ticket for the Easter Holiday but that might be too late. I was wondering if this is really happening. I think I still am. The first two weeks just melt into a long, sticky blob of time. I read online that I should set up a routine. So I did. The blob turned into limbo, and I was doing the exact same things every day not really knowing the date or the time but continuing anyway... Waiting for someone to tell me I can stop.

PAUSE

My mental state during the lockdown is like a roller-coaster, some days I feel like a maniac, inspired, active, self-confident. Some other days I feel lazy, incapable of doing anything, anxious, and full of self-loath. Sometimes these moods change within a short period of time, like hours or just minutes. Through this self-portrait, I tried to capture the moment of transitioning from one chaos to another.

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Lili Gyarmati