Bence Bakonyi transforms tourists into ant-like specks in the Gobi Desert for his series Cognition. The photos aren't about the individual people, but the homogenous, often strange way groups of sightseers explore.
The Hungarian photographer got the idea during the final week of a yearlong residency in China. He came across a postcard of an ancient Silk Road outpost and was intrigued by the sweeping terrain in the photo. Bakonyi decided to travel nearly 1,800 miles from Shanghai to Dunhuang with a trainload of Chinese tourists to see it firsthand.
The city of Dunhuang is an oasis in the Gobi Desert and was once a main stop on the Silk Road. Formerly a place of cultural, economic, and military significance, the region is now little more than a tourist curiosity. Nearby attractions include the stunning Mogao Caves filled with ancient Buddhist paintings and statues, the stunning moon-shaped Crescent Lake, and Mingsha Shan—or 'Echoing-Sand Mountain'—famous for the singing tone the dunes make when the wind whips just right. The locations are crawling with visitors most days of the year. Bakonyi found the contrast of terrain and people fascinating. “It was incredible to see such a huge place as an enclosure for tourists,” he says.
Bakonyi shot his scenes pulled back from the attractions and activities, allowing the enormous landscape to dominate the frame. Because of this, the images have a disorienting dreaminess. There are sidewalks that end in the middle of the desert, a set of winding cement stairs offering manicured hiking over a ridge, and stuffed camels waiting for a photo op. A few lonely security cameras and beach huts for weary visitors adds to the strangeness.
The photos also capture sightseers as they mill up and down the dunes like sheep in a giant sandbox. Bayonki documents them with a wry humor, the brightly-colored vacationers snapping photos and shuffling around in orange footwear. "Those boots are available for rent to keep the sand out of your shoes,” he says. “But why come to the desert if you hate the sand?"
Bakonyi uses his removed perspective to highlight the herd-like mentality of the crowd, and imagines the meandering tourists as a sort of temporary community intent on exploration. Though roaming around in neon boots on guided tours hardly seems adventurous, it's still a chance for sightseers to experience something unusual. As Bakonyi describes in his artist's statement, "[It's] the process through which this unified mass of people discovers the unknown."
