The Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam celebrated the official opening of the exhibition ‘I shall use my time’, a retrospective of the work of Hungarian-born photographer Ata Kandó, on Friday 16 September. Among the works exhibited in Rotterdam, photographs taken after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in refugee camps in Austria, play a significant role. The opening of the exhibition was attended by the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Hungary, Mr Zoltán Lékó.
Ata Kandó was born in Budapest in 1913 under the name Etelka Görög. She has lived and worked in many countries, such as France, the United States, England and the Netherlands, which quickly becomes evident in her work.
In the fall of 1956, Kandó photographed victims of the Hungarian Revolution, who fled across the Austrian-Hungarian border into Austria. As a result of their trip to Austria, Ata Kandó and Dutch photographer Violette Cornelius, published a book with pictures of Hungarian refugees. Their book was already published by Christmas 1956 and its total revenue - half a million Dutch guilders - was spend on aid for Hungarians who had fled to the Netherlands.
Ata Kandó’s exhibition will be on show in the Nederlands Fotomuseum until 1 January 2017. The retrospective is divided in five sections. In addition to Kando’s 1956 photos, one may find family photos, pictures of her time in Paris, as well as the series ‘Dream in the woods’ and ‘Amazon Indians’.
During the opening ceremony of the exhibition, museum director Ruud Visschedijk held congratulatory speeches and spoke to the photographer on Skype, who was to celebrate her 103th birthday the day after.
A raving review on 'I shall use my time', may be found in De Volkskrant of Friday 16 September. Volkskrant’s Arno Haijtema has rated the exhibition with five stars. 
