Katalin Pusztaszeri

Between 2022 and 2024, we witnessed years of chaos, confusion, and profound disarray. The wars — between Russia and Ukraine, and between Israel and Hamas — and the catastrophic toll they took in human lives have shattered the normal worldview and moral compass of any sane, well-meaning individual. At the heart of this photographic series lies a single fortune cookie, for why shouldn’t the genesis of such a work be rooted in a banal, everyday gesture and the accompanying message it brings? A message, after all, that we receive each time we crack open a fortune cookie, yet promptly discard without a thought — its tiny slip of paper crumpled and tossed into the trash or abandoned on the street.

 

We all understand, deep down, that imperial hubris, narcissistic pride, unbridled ambition, and the rampant egos at the center of politics—those grandiose power plays that trample over everything and everyone — alongside a Cain-like, ungoverned envy and malevolence, lie at the core of humanity’s earthly suffering. With the “Wisdom of a Fortune Cookie” series, I seek to remind us of the chaos and original sin that can be perceived in our present day, made legible in our everyday lives, if only we know our histories and sacred texts.

 

Yet it seems modern man has neither the time nor the energy for such reflection. We have forgotten or chosen to ignore the cultural legacies and knowledge passed down to us. We wear masks; our eyes have been gouged out. Reclining on our sofas, we watch the media’s staged spectacles as outsiders — our contrived present — while groping in the darkness for any law or logic governing this world, all the while failing to recognize our own reality. By building up the ego, do we truly advance the image of our genuine selves? What becomes of those sacrificed upon the altar of ego and power struggles? Does religious affiliation, the legacy of our ancestors, or the wisdom bequeathed by preceding generations hold any lasting significance?