VOX VICTIMAE

VOX VICTIMAE

Conceptual

How does a living being become a victim? When did we become so detached from life that we built systems around it to decide who is worthy of living? What happens when we are not worthy? Who is it that selects, categorises, decides – and who empowered them? Sacrifice was originally a sacred act; today we make sacrifices, we become victims on the altar of power, political ideologies and scientific progress instead of gods. Which body becomes a tool, a sacrifice, and which remains protected? What happens when we no longer defend life, but the system? Who is to say what is life and what is not? “Man is the cruellest animal.” – writes Nietzsche. But is it really the animal that is cruel or is it man who can build a system around cruelty?

In my work, I examine these questions. I am interested in the boundary between art and science, with a particular focus on microscopes as alternative image-making tools. The book presents images of cross-sections of animal organs and tissues, as well as phase photographs of apoptosis (artificially induced cell death) in the HeLa cell line, rendered in abstracted and distorted forms. I investigate the mechanisms of victimization and the exercise of power, which appear in the book through animals, while aiming to draw parallels with similar processes operating within human society.

Emma Varga

Symposion Publishing

2025

swiss bind, hardcover, folded poster as dust jacket, 140gsm

20x25

82

67

500

Regno Unito

Sirbik Attila, Mihalovits Panka

Sirbik Attila

978-86-80284-14-9

https://emmavargaarchive.com/

https://emmavargaarchive.com/vox-victimae/

ISBN+ (Budapest), NOS (Budapest), Atlantisz (Budapest), Írók Boltja (Budapest), Mai Manó House (Budapest)

https://punkt.hu/2026/02/18/narrativ-strukturak-kortars-magyar-fotokonyvszemle-2025-masodik-felebol/
https://hvg.hu/360/20260603_a-mu-varga-emma-vox-victim-az-aldozatok-hangja-fotokonyv
https://spectaculum-magazine.com/2026/05/22/vox-victimae/