What is your all-time favourite camera and lens combination?
“That make no sense, that’s why I carry 5 cameras.”
Sylvia Plachy
Sylvia Plachy is a PUNK who brought her presents from 20th-century America—and beyond.
PUNK, but not like Bruce Gilden. PUNK in a rawly feminine way!
When I asked her what has been her all-time favourite camera, she looked at me with that confident, deep-cutting gaze and answered—in my interpretation:
“Sweetheart, I carry five cameras!”
During my research into her professional career, I had to face the fact that the internet isn’t exactly filled with information about her—but against all that, what truly matters is that she released six thrilling photo books.
Education: History lesson time.
In a nutshell, she’s Hungarian—and her family fled Budapest during the 1956 revolution, when she was just a little girl. They docked in Vienna for two years before finally reaching New York. That’s where they started anew. And that’s where Sylvia began studying photography.
One of her tutors suggested she meet fellow Hungarian émigré André Kertész—because, according to him, their way of seeing the world aligned. After they met, a close bond formed between the two Hungarian photographers. In an interview, Sylvia once said that the only truly good photo ever had been taken of her was shot by none other than Uncle Bandi, as she called Kertész.
And now, at the Capa Center—right next to the Kertész exhibition—you’ll find a full-blown blast of Sylvia’s work.
And it’s not just any show. It’s PUNK.
A non-traditional exhibition.
Presents from the 20th century and beyond.
Some of these presents are pinned to the wall like posters; others are large, framed classic prints—free from dated captions that might influence how you see them. This freedom to feel and interpret the displayed images is central to the exhibition’s concept. Contrast is key: some images appear in their original editorial context, straight out of magazines—text and all. Others stand naked, open to raw emotion and free association, documenting American life in the ’80s and ’90s with piercing honesty. And this attitude—this raw, intuitive freedom—is exactly what defines Sylvia’s photographic vision.
It’s clean, airy—and still PUNK.
Punk in her attitude.
In her belief in photography: that we must respond to the world in our own unique way—through the camera, while staying true to ourselves. The photographer must interpret reality with naked honesty.
It’s not enough to see a good picture—you have to feel, sense it, too.
At the same time, she’s classic.
Classic, among other reasons, because you can sometimes glimpse echoes of well-known photographers in her work. But those echoes are always indirect greetings— resonances of friendships with contemporaries, reflections of shared, lived moments.
Sylvia herself emphasized in an earlier interview:
she’s not inspired by other photographers. She’s inspired by everything else in life.
With all this in mind, it’s definitely worth visiting the Capa Center to see Sylvia Plachy’s exhibition—one that reveals a world previously hidden, now laid bare through her camera like never before.
Baby calm down, better calm down,
Patti Smith
In the night, in the eye of the forest
There’s a mare black and shining with yellow hair,
Forrás:
OvationTV | Close up: Photographers at work
Sylvia Plachy interjú, Műcsarnok, Sylvia Plachy kiállítás Sepsiszentgyörgyön,
Sylvia Plachy Lucie award
Photos from the exchibition:
original Heti Mocsok stuff.
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