Barbara Bódi was born in 1977 in Budapest, Hungary, where she still lives and works. Under the pseudonym BOBA she is active as an artist, art teacher, religion teacher, china painter, interior decorator and social researcher. Her oeuvre includes painting, drawing, photography and collage.
Born into a Hungarian Roma musician family with four children, art and culture were woven into her everyday life even in childhood. She graduated in 1995 from a secondary art school, where she focused on china painting, inspired by Gustav Klimt’s Secessionist world. In 2002 she graduated in art history, drawing and visual communication from Eszterházy Károly University, where her artistic development was determined by two Munkácsy Award artists, Péter Földi and István B. Nagy. She then studied at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest under József Baska and Katalin Rényi, and gained an MA in religious education from Apor Vilmos Catholic College in 2011. Moreover, she has attended two of István Szentandrásy’s master courses. As a regular attender of the Roma Art Camp at Lake Balaton, she collaborates with other Roma artists. Inspired by Roma art and the natural world, she explores various art forms and mixed techniques, her practice expressing an intense creativity through brave colour palettes and brushstrokes.
She explored her Roma origins in her 2015 series of oil paintings My mirror, my mirror – or about otherness otherwise, which encourages a culture of multiracial and multiethnic acceptance. Her pieces evoke a dreamland, reflecting upon vivid memories of a happy, creative childhood, and often resulting from the artist’s own experiences as a mother of two.
Currently Bódi is a doctoral candidate at Eötvös Loránd University, where she is exploring a national Roma fine art, and in 2016 she published her first album featuring her paintings and writings in three languages: Hungarian, English and Romani.
www.artboba.com
Exhibitions
1994
Romano Kher awards gala, Katona József Theatre, Budapest
1995
Aktok és portrék – Ruttkai Éva Theatre, Autonómia Foundation, Budapest
1996
Tűzvirág sorozat – BM Palace, Orczy garden, Thália Theatre, Budapest
2005
Fekete tűz és virágok – Kalyi Jag Roma Nemzetiségi Szakiskola és Szakközépiskola, Budapest
2008
Cigányvarázs – Józsefváros Gallery, Budapest
2009
Hungarian Culture Foundation, Budapest
2010
Szabó Ervin Library, Budapest
2011
Cigányvarázs – Tavaszi hangok – Stefánia Palace, Charity Gala, Budapest
Színekben oldott életek – Hungarian National Theatre, Budapest
House of Dialogue, Budapest
2012
Anya-Lánya-Unokája – Madách Theatre
Nemzetiségi Napok Fine Art Show, Apor Vilmos Katolikus Főiskola, Budapest
Aroma Poster Show – Szabadság Square, Budapest
Jaw Dikh! – international Roma exhibition, Krakow
National Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Budapest
2013
Vallás és misztikum a kortárs roma képzőművészetben – Madách Színház Tolnay Szalon, Budapest
Government Office of the Capital City Budapest, Budapest
3rd Human Rights Film Festival, Budapest
2014
Boba Impressziók – Madách Színház Tolnay Szalon, Budapest
Arculat – Karcolat – House of Dialogue, Budapest
National Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Budapest
2015
Best of women / Nők a vászon előtt és mögött – Madách Színház Tolnay Szalon, Budapest
BobaArt – ZIC Gallery
2016
Tükröm-tükröm tárlat vagy a másságról másképp – Zuglói Civil Ház, Budapest | House of Dialogue, Budapest | Madách Színház Tolnay Szalon, Budapest
2017
Bajzából jöttünk – Eötvös 10 Közösségi és Kulturális Színtér, Budapest
Source: the artist