"I was the poorest of the poor, and today I am asked for autographs on the street" – Interview with Kati Zsigóné, the "Queen of Egg Decorating"
Her third major work, the Egg of Our World, has recently been completed, portraying famous people, world-famous buildings, and universal symbols. Newton, Gagarin, Mother Teresa, Christ the Redeemer, and the faces of many of today's personalities are also there. With her new work, Kati Zsigóné from Kecskemét wants to send a message to all the people of the world. The always smiling, nationwide known folk artist – who asked me to call her by her first name – told kepmas.hu about her childhood in poverty and how she would like to see her works of art finally find their rightful place.
When we set up the interview, you mentioned that you've been getting a lot of inquiries from the press lately. Is this always the case before Easter?
Yes, but there are also a lot of inquiries during the year, too, for example at Christmas, which is very strange. I also did interviews during Marriage Week, and now the seventy-year-olds from the whole country, the greatest scientists, and artists have all been called together and a book is being published about us for posterity, and I’m included, too. In 2018, I made the Hungarian National Egg, and I had a particularly large number of interviews then, but the most successful was definitely the Egg of Our World.
Which was made this year and you presented it to the public a few weeks ago. We'll talk about it later. But first I'm curious, when did you paint your first egg?
Thirty-two years ago. I am seventy years old, so I wasn’t very young when I started. It's interesting because eggs were not my first folk art creation. I did wall painting first. I was decorating our apartment, there was a blank wall upstairs in the hallway and I wanted to put colorful flowers there. I painted the flowers on a big sheet of paper. My husband came home and said it's so beautiful, you can paint it on the wall. Then I started painting flowers on eggs.
When you were a child, didn't your family dye eggs?
I lived in a shack with no chimney and no windows. I lay in bed with my clothes on because the water was frozen. I was the poorest of the poor. I was shunned by my classmates, they wouldn't play with me. Today they ask me for my autograph on the street and want to take my picture.
As a child, I didn't know anything about Christmas or Easter.
And today you are known throughout the country as the "Queen of Egg Decorating". In March, you presented the Egg of Our World. What designs are featured and why is it called the Egg of Our World?
I used the etched and oil-painted technique, and it took me over three years. Forty famous people are depicted, including Gagarin, Stephen Hawking, Newton, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Ghandi, and Jesus... as well as buildings and natural wonders. The most magnificent structures ever built by man: the Taj Mahal, the statues of Moai, Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro... It is the only 20th-century structure to be included in the Seven Wonders of the World. The Egg of Our World brings together 8 billion people from the whole world, because the egg is a cohesive force and because its theme is universal because it is about us; human beings. Everyone can find a motif they know or practice. It features the fourteen largest religions in the world. The two great world religions; Christianity and Islam are practiced by half of humanity, four billion people. The Egg of Our World transmits a vast body of knowledge about us, people, to people. It holds a mirror up to us.
What do you mean exactly?
The message of Egg of Our World is to help each other and cherish our planet. Humans are capable of miracles, yet they are the most harmful creatures on earth because they kill themselves. Because mankind loves money, they pursue their own pleasures. We should be humble towards nature and help each other. Man does not know the happiness of seeing the face of our fellow man when we help them. Sometimes I am called to judge in schools where the teachers choose the most beautiful eggs for me. I tell them that I prefer the twelfth to the first. They always wonder why, since it's not so pretty. And I say it's because it has a message. That's the most important thing!
The Egg of Our World also has a message, my aim was to make it the only universal work on earth that speaks to every single person in the world.
Not only positive but also negative personalities, figures and concepts appear on this egg.
Yes, war, terrorism, murder, famine, natural disasters, or environmental pollution, and epidemics. Let us realize that we are nature's playthings: we are small compared to the forces of nature. The Egg of Our World draws attention to the fact that there is no other habitable planet in the universe. In my opinion, if there was one, man would destroy it! I believe that although we have been given nature and our health for free, we cannot damage either without consequences!
In 2009 you were voted one of the top five egg decorators in the world in Dubai and the best egg decorator in Europe, but you have also won many other awards over the years. Which of these awards are you most proud of?
In Transylvania, I was knighted and recognized as a defender of our National Identity. My greatest pride however is a plaque that my husband, József Zsigó, had made for me: it says that after 46 years of marriage, he thinks I am a "miracle".
You not only work on chicken eggs. The Egg of Our World was made on an ostrich egg.
I can paint on any egg, whatever kind it is. The biggest egg in the world is the ostrich egg. Japanese researchers have found that an ostrich eggshell can last 100 million years, and no other material is as durable. I have seven world-class artworks, of which the Egg of Our World (2023), the Egg of the Hungarian Nation (2018), and the Talking Egg (2019) are all priceless. And there is one more I’m planning right now.
Can we talk about it now?
I’m not going to paint it until I have my artwork in its rightful place. I am 70 years old and I want to have a safe place for my artwork. I don't have that at the moment. I would like someone, either an investor, to buy it or a city to display my exhibition for tourists. It would be nice if they could go to a major museum or if an art-loving politician would take them. Through the Egg of Our World, I have made the whole Hungarian nation famous in the world. Many artists were honoured after they had died. I hope that will not be the case with me. As long as I work, I'm fine, but my pension is 74 thousand HUF (approx. 215 USD) a month and who knows where fate will throw me.
What do eggs represent for you?
I’d like to die with an egg in my hand because it is a symbol of rebirth.
You know more than five thousand motifs. Do you have a favourite?
No, I don’t. I love them all and often improvise. I work with nearly thirty decorating methods, two of which I’m not so good at. For example, carving eggs is difficult, you have to be very careful. Horseshoeing is easy, but if you put the horseshoe on without a horseshoe nail on the eggshell, it's not easy. The Egg of Our World took three years from idea to realization: it took me six months to put the motifs on, but the collection of the material was a huge job, it took two and a half years. Many people also say that it is the egg of superlatives. Others say it is a world symbol, and provides an encyclopedic knowledge of the life of mankind.
Where can people see it?
For the time being - until its final owner is found - you can see it in my exhibition. Visitors to the museum often say that they experience something beautiful not only for the eyes but for the heart, too. That it was an unforgettable experience.
For those who are trying to dye eggs now, in Holy Week, what is your advice on how to get started?
Boil the egg, and clean the shell. Take watercolor paint and draw a circle on the egg – you can use whatever colour – that's the Earth. Put a dot in the middle. The old people said that's where God lives. Draw a line on the circle to the North, South, East, and West. And at the end of each line, put a squiggly line and then little dots. This symbolizes that we have recreated the universe, that we have circled the earth. We have drawn the sun that gives us life. The tiny dots represent the seeds that are sown in the ground in the spring.
In addition to egg decorating, you also work in eight artistic disciplines, including oil painting, embroidery and glass painting. How do you find time for all of these?
Almost everybody asks me that (laughs) Somehow I work very fast. I have a big dream, I would like to teach the Hungarian people to celebrate Easter in a huge stadium, and we would paint eggs together. Today, this tradition is not really kept anymore, so I have been teaching, giving lectures, and spreading Hungarian folk art all over the country for more than thirty years. I work when I am inspired, and when I am creating, I am very happy, I would like to knock on every door and wish everyone personally a happy day.
My mother never hugged me, I would hug everyone.
The exhibition in Kecskemét can be visited by appointment.
More information: http://www.zsigonekati.com/
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