The exhibition Gifts from the 20th Century and Beyond offers an unconventional overview of her life’s work: some of her selected photographs are also displayed in their published versions, allowing many of them to be viewed both as exhibition prints and in published format, supplemented by additional images and texts.

This rare, complex presentation guides the viewer through the history of the photos, revealing how their meaning can shift in different contexts.

This approach holds particular significance in the case of Sylvia Plachy, as a considerable portion of her work appeared in design and architecture magazines: notably, the New York-based The Village Voice weekly and Metropolis.

She had a regular column in both publications, with her photos often spanning across double-page spreads over an extended period – the current exhibition selects from that material and from her entire oeuvre.

She has published in numerous journals and edited books of her photographs.

Her first volume, the legendary Unguided Tour, was compiled from photographs published in hercolumn of the same name in The Village Voice, as well as other work she produced for the Voice. 

Richard Avedon wrote of the book and the photographer: “Not since Robert Frank’s The Americans have I experienced a body of work of such range and power. She makes me laugh and she breaks my heart. She is moral. She is everything a photographer should be.”

Her sensitivity, humanism, and deeply human-centred attitude form the foundation of everything she creates. She immerses herself in the situations she photographs, approaching others with empathy and without judgement, because she understands it is not her role to judge.

She does not merely report – she sees deeper than that. She does not offer definitive answers but rather encourages reflection. She teaches us to feel. She knows how – and dares –to face the sinner, the fallible. She sees both goodness and the fragility of beauty – and possesses the gift of showing both to us all.

She was born in 1943, at a time when Europe was in flames and for many, even hope was adistant dream.

Her early childhood unfolded amidst the global turmoil, and the succeeding, peaceful, everyday life was disrupted at the age of thirteen by a sudden journey into the unknown: her family fled Hungary in 1956. As she described that experience retrospectively: “There was darkness behind us, and darkness ahead of us.”

They spent two years in Austria, where she took her first photographs at the age of fifteenwith an Agfa Box camera received from her father. In 1958, her family moved to New Jersey, eventually settling in the Queens borough of New York City.

After finishing secondary school, she enrolled in the art programme at Pratt Institute in 1961. Attending Arthur Freed’s photography course, she decided to pursue the profession of photography, and it was on his recommendation that she contacted fellow Hungarian-born photographer André Kertész.

A deep friendship developed between them, lasting until Kertész’s death. “I have never seen the moment experienced and captured on film with greater intimacy and humanity,” Kertész said of his student and her work.

Sylvia Plachy’s photographs have an extraordinary ability to resonate with our own innerimages and to open a pathway to the depths of the soul. Her photos transport us to the hauntingly beautiful landscapes of memories, dreams, and imagination.

She creates her photographs instinctively, following only her own visual intuition – or at times breaking even her own rules, when necessary. Wherever she travels in the world, she senses where THE IMAGE is waiting for her.

Even if she has only a fleeting moment, she does not just capture it – she expands it, transforming it into a continuous present. In doing so, she provides us with insight into stories – and into the destinies that lie within and beyond them.

The exhibition is part of the Budapest Photo Festival.

Venue: Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center
On view:
April 5 – August 31, 2025
Tuesday - Friday: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Closed on Monday and public holidays.

More: 
Capa Center.hu
1065 Budapest, Nagymező u. 8