War Diaries

George Szekely’s War Diaries, curated by his daughter, Ilona Szekely, breaks from his usual landscapes and natural textures—sticks, stones, grass-brush strokes, and all. Instead, he responds to the chaos of modern conflict: vivid, unsettling, and deeply personal. Drawing on memories of growing up amid war in Hungary—and unsettled by the violence in Ukraine and the Middle East—Szekely translates that re-expression of conflict into his art.

This series mixes children’s battle sketches, personal memories, and media-fed imagery of war to reflect both the terror and the persisting hope within the artist’s continued search for inner peace.

While rooted in personal history, War Diaries reaches beyond autobiography. The work examines how images of war infiltrate daily life and challenges viewers to confront their own responses to violence and resilience. At once intimate and universal, the series offers both witness and warning, reminding us of the fragile balance between destruction and hope.