Portfolio

Why Symbolic Photography

Cata Tibori turns to symbolic photography as a way to express what can’t be said out loud. of what cannot be spoken directly. The interest lies not in documenting reality but in distilling its essence. Symbolic photography gives structure to ambiguity.
Symbolic photography is not about decoding — it’s about emotional resonance.

For Cata Tibori, photography becomes a form of visual philosophy — light becomes voice, gesture becomes silence, and the viewer is invited to cross the threshold between surface and depth.

A Thematic Guide to Dreamland

Cata Tibori’s Dreamland collection can be explored through four interpretive lenses: religious themes, mythological archetypes, surreal atmospheres, and philosophical statements.

Religious Photography – works such as Salome and Saint John the Baptist or Saint John the Baptist’s Lament reinterpret Christian iconography with introspective restraint and symbolic tension.
Mythological Themes – inspired by classical sources, including The Birth of Venus, these images reflect on origin, emergence, and the transformation of aesthetic ideals.
Surrealist Narratives – compositions like Follow Me Home. The Prophet or Come Back to Me carry subconscious rhythm and ambiguity. These images communicate through symbolic tension rather than clear statements.
Artist Statements – visual meditations such as For Every Lie, the Truth Lay Underneath It and  I Have Everything I Need express existential themes through stillness and symbolic detail.

The Frame Within the Frame

The square format is used deliberately to evoke containment and stillness — a visual space that encourages focus and reflection. These images are not decorative objects but symbolic invitations. Each one offers room for projection, contemplation, and meaning.

Learn How These Were Created

To discover Cata Tibori’s conceptual and visual process behind these images, visit the How I made my image page

Outro

This portfolio by Cata Tibori isn’t just a showcase of images — it is a dialogue between symbol and story, gesture and gaze, light and silence. Viewers are invited to explore each work not only with the eye, but with that quieter part of themselves that still responds to metaphor.

The visual language in these works reflects Cata Tibori’s long-standing dialogue with classical painting on centuries of painting. From the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio to the grace of Botticelli, from the surreal restraint of Magritte to Klimt’s emotive symbolism, the works echo a long-standing tradition of composing with light and meaning.

Though photographic in form, these images carry within them the silence of paintings.

Light and Color – A Synthesis

Across the Dreamland series, color and light function as emotional structure. Religious pieces like Salome and Saint John the Baptist or Saint John the Baptist’s Lament are shaped by chiaroscuro, in the spirit of Caravaggio and Zurbarán — darkness as container for presence.

The Birth of Venus recalls Botticelli’s delicacy and color harmony, using pastel hues and soft contrast.
Come Back to Me and Follow Me Home. The Prophet juxtapose deep blue with crimson to express symbolic friction between water and fire, absence and memory.
For Every Lie, the Truth Lay Underneath It adopts neutral tones and internal shadows, echoing the stillness of Vermeer or the introspection of Hopper.
I Have Everything I Need is reduced to warm monochrome — focused more on breath than pigment.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Follow Your Dream or Secret Sin. Expulsion from Heaven explore black-and-white contrast: the former is balanced and contemplative; the latter is theatrical, with intense chiaroscuro inspired by Caravaggio and Goya.

In his images, light doesn’t just reveal — it becomes part of the narrative, almost like a character itself. Color becomes psychological voice. These are not compositions — they are atmospheres. These works belong not to one genre, but to symbolic photography as a way of seeing