Dear Fingering Visitor

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Orsolya and I am 39 years old. I have shoulder-length, a bit wavy, fairish-brownish hair. My face is oval with bluish-green eyes. I am 172 cm-s tall and weigh 64 kg-s. I was born in Szatmárnémeti in Romania. My native language is Hungarian. My father is Sándor Lóránd Balvinszky, a Reformed pastor and my mother is Mária Balvinszky, a Reformed teacher of religion. I have a brother as well, called Sándor, who works as a computer expert. In our childhood my brother and I were often engaged in handcraft and did a lot of claywork together.

I came to Debrecen, Hungary in connection with my classical music studies at the age of 16. I majored in religious music in Debrecen, then I went to Békéscsaba majoring as a pedagogical assitant. Finally I graduated as an assistant teacher of handicapped children.

I have wanted to create, to produce something since I was a child. Because of my music studies, however, I had no opportunity to study drawing and painting, which I feel an advantage beacuse this way I can create anything without any rules and restrictions. Why did I start dealing with this type of creation? During the 2,5 years I spent in Budapest, I had a partner, Thomas, who-apart from the fact that he was blind and could not sense even light since he was born- lived his life to the full and enjoyed all its beauty. He was brought up to live a positive, independent life. When he was a child, he regularly went to the theatre, to concerts and he also visited exhibitions. He participated in social programs, study circles together with sighted people both as a child and as an adult with pleasure. He learnt to play the harp, to do origami and he regularly goes dancing. He even played a role in a film and got his degree in English. He studied even abroad / in America and India / several times. I feel lucky to have met him. We often went to exhibitions together, but he was not allowed to touch the pictures, so a tried to tell him as much about the works of art as I could. On one occassion,, when he wanted to touch a painting, the guard shouted at him saying it was forbidden to do so. It was after this case that I started making pictures that he could touch.

I am also grateful to one of my dear friends. His sibling is also visually impaired. He has his own business as a snooker instructor in Budapest. He made such a great impression on me that I went on with my studies as a teacher of children with learning difficulties and started organising exhibitions in Budapest and in its environment and in Hungarian cities. I got a lot of moral strenght from Tamás and my other visually impaired friends, that is why I would like to organise exhibitions for seers and visually impaired people, children and elderly alike all over the world. I would like to convey a message around the world that we should love and accept each other.We should dare to ask for and accept help.

I have been organising exhibitions for seers and visually impaired people for more than 18 years. I got my degree as a teacher of handicapped children. It is true, I did not major in visually impaired people, but people, who have problems with studying. Meanwhile I have been following Thomas' life for 15 years with the help of his mother with whom we became true friends. The aim of my exhibitions besides integration is that the visitors should have a good time and laugh a lot, that is why my pictures' titles and descriptions are not only funny but also make their interpretation easier. I have got to know the interest, the everday life of visually impaired people through Thomas. He has changed my interpretation of colours and forms, his ideas of art and what I have thought about them. I thought he could imagine everything just like me. It turned out however, that he has a sense for colours, but he cannot imagine them. For example, I asked him: "Thomas, what do you think white is like?" He replied it was a pure colour. I went on asking him: "What does pure mean?" I do not rememeber what he answered because we stopped this topic. On another occassion I asked him about buildings, whether it was any help for him to touch the maquette of the given building. I admit that I do not remember his exact answer, but what remained from his answer is that a visually impaired person cannot sense the height and size of a building with the help of a maquette. The material of the building which he can touch while passing it holding a white cane in his hand helps a lot. Thomas introduced me to the world of sounds, tastes, music, spices and materials, that is why I started creating stuff from them. My exhibitions are, however, not only for the visually impaired, but the seers as well. I organised my first exhibition in Érd, a small settlement 10 km-s from Budapest. After that several exhibitions followed in the Ervin Szabó Library in the center of Budapest, in the Union of Visually Impaired People, In the School of the Blind, and also in cafes in the center of Budapest and other cities in Hungary like Szeged, Miskolc, Siófok and Cegléd. I became member of the art group "Tangible" and participated in exhibitions together with them, too, among others in the Museum of Fine Arts.

My most important exhibitions so far:

Ervin Szabó Library Budapest February 2012

Prága Cafe Budapest March 2011

Monyó Café Budapest 2011

Szeged October 2012

Óbuda-Békásmegyer common exhibition with Balázs Sánta photoghrapher March 2012

Szeged October 2013

North-Hungary Visually Impaired Rehabilitation Center March 2013

Museum of Fine Arts Budapest May 2013

Vittula Club Budapest 2014

Imre Kálmán Cultural Center Siófok-Painted Melodies

I had an exhibition in Zürich, Switzerland on 25th September 2020. It took place at the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Thank you for your attention!