If you happen to be a part of such social change as we were in 1989, then you believe you can have an impact
Ilona Németh was born to a Hungarian family on 28th of January, 1963 in Dunajska Streda. Her father was a member of the Communist Party. Despite the fact that her father held high positions in the party after 1969, Ilona sensitively perceived social and political situation. She graduated at the Hungarian College of Applied Art. During her studies she was very active among various opposition groups and carried Hungarian samizdat literature through the borders. In 1986 she returned to Southern Slovakia and participated in protest actions although her son was born. She worked for the Hungarian book publisher Madách and co-founded the graphic column of the Iródia magazine for independent Hungarian writers. In 1987 together with József Juhász they established an independent Studio erté promoting so far unofficial alternative and experimental art. In the same year they started to organize the festival in Nove Zamky. Together with 20 Hungarian dissidents and young activists she co-founded Hungarian Independent Initiative in secret on 18th November 1989 and was its active representant in November revolutionary actions. At the same time she worked for the HII in the headquarters of the VPN in Bratislava. For two years she worked in Nap – an independent Hungarian magazine as a graphic designer. She has never applied for any political post. She left politics in 1991 and remained an active artist with frequent exhibitions in both Slovakia and abroad. Since 2007 she has been a professor at the Department of Intermedia and Multimedia of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava. She is still socially engaged.