Lenke Szilágyi is one of the most known artists of Hungarian photography. Her Ernst Museum show is part of our museum's series of female artists, realised in may, 2004. Besides working in films, art magazines and theatre she is best appreciated for her solo exhibitions of thematic shows, starting from the 80's. As the writer László Krasznahorkai puts it, her pictures exhale the endless sadness of things, no matter the series of photos arrive from India, Syberia, the Caucasus mountains or just outskirts of Budapest, even her own life. Human fate is her central theme, stuck into its own circumstances. She does not approve her models with the arrogancy of high art, but from the viewpoint of her own, that is why the human figures cannot pose on her pictures but reveal their true form. The end products seem easy-going and spontaneous, but are often prevailed by a performancelike setting. The unity of her separate actions is realised by the ephemerous form of exhibition. This show of Lenke Szilágyi compiles best but not best known works of 20 years.
Born in Debrecen, 1959, she graduated from Budapest High School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1980. Works for the art magazine Beszélő since 1990.
Most important solo exhibitions: Palais Beaulieu, La Photo de l'Est, Lausanne, 1990, Mois de la photo Hongrois -Francais, Paris,1998, Centre for Hungarian Culture Moscow, 1998, Carl Zeiss Planetarium, Jena, 1998. Barbican, London, 1999, Liget Galéria, Budapest, 2001, Li Shalima galerie, Berlin 2001
Selection of group exhibitions: 1984 Helsinki, Nykyaika Galéria
1985 Paris, Photobiennal; Düsseldorf Kunstmuseum, Fotosymposium
1987 Fotografia, Warsaw, Mala Galeria; Out of Eastern Europe: Private Photography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
1989 Young Hungarian Artists, Fotogalerie Wien
1989 Eastern European Photo, Oberlin, Ohio, USA; Hungarian Photo, Fotogalerie Salzburg; Más Kép, Budapest, Ernst Múzeum
1999 Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus Ungarn, Potsdam, Kulturhaus; Six Documentary Photographers, New York, Council of the Hungarian Republic