Faces of Hunger

Between 15 November 2024 and 13 February 2025, the Museum of Ethnography in Hungary presents an exhibition addressing an unusual topic in the context of Hungarian museum practice. This guest exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Ethnographic Museum of Zagreb, focuses on the complex issue of hunger. Added to the display find Hungarian collection objects and stories, which highlight the multifaceted nature of hunger as well. Hunger is not only a biological need, but also a social and cultural phenomenon that has shaped humanity’s past, present, and future. Visitors will encounter not only the many forms of hunger but also a reflection on various eating disorders.

Humanity's history of food consumption has been deeply influenced and shaped by periods of famine. It is not an exaggeration to state that human history has often been defined by hunger rather than abundance. Hunger has been one of the driving forces behind human development, urbanisation, social life, and the economy, particularly the development of agriculture. Even today, in the 21st century, we are confronted with hunger on both global and local scales—within our cities, streets, and even in our own neighbourhoods. According to a 2021 survey by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 3.17 million people live in households that face financial insecurity on a month-to-month basis. One in four people in Croatia is threatened by poverty, and 7.8% of the population live in households that cannot afford to eat meat, poultry, fish, or equivalent vegetarian options every other day.

Given these facts, the exhibition also addresses hunger as a present-day issue. In recent years, a series of global crises—pandemics, natural disasters, and wars—have made us acutely aware that the distribution and availability of food can change at any time, leading to shortages, deprivation, and hunger. But another aspect of hunger, which increasingly affects young people, such as anorexia, bulimia, or the widespread issue of obesity, is also explored in the exhibition, as are the stories of hunger strikes, fasting, and dieting.

The exhibition Faces of Hunger not only reveals the hardships caused by hunger but also demonstrates humanity’s ongoing fight against it. This includes topics such as humanitarian aid, food preservation, wartime recipes, food production under siege, the significance of the potato, and age-old customs designed to counter the fear of hunger.

Although the exhibition focuses primarily on Croatia, the geographical, historical, and regional traditions may also resonate with Hungarian visitors. The museum’s collection presents a range of objects and stories that highlight these shared experiences, with one of the most colourful examples being the former Matyó communities, whose members endured hunger in order to create their ornate traditional costumes.

The museum's permanent exhibitions, which are also available to visitors with a year-long pass, engage in a special dialogue with Faces of Hunger. The new exhibition can be visited with a single entry ticket and is located on the first floor of the museum, alongside the Sipibo-konibo. Portraits of My People temporary exhibition, featuring captivating black-and-white photographs by Peruvian indigenous photographer David Díaz. On the museum’s lower-ground level, the Nutrition Collection is displayed within the museum’s permanent exhibition, alongside research and narratives presented through exhibitions such as Fine Dining: Food Stories of Ancient China from the National Museum of China in Beijing, SZÉKELYS – Patterns of Heritage, and Ceramics Space. These exhibitions together contribute to a more complex understanding of the relationship between human culture and food.

Exhibition Curators

Dr. Tanja Kocković Zaborski – Ethnographic Museum Zagreb
Dr. Melanija Belaj – Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research

Curators for the Hungarian Section of the Exhibition

Borka Eszter Bazsó – Museum of Ethnography
Dóra Nagy – Museum of Ethnography
Anna Tihanyi – Museum of Ethnography