Vanek Virág
For me, the collosphere is the creative and material space generated during the wet plate process, in which collodion emerges as an active co-creator. It is a medium where matter and artist collaboratively bring the artwork to life through mutual interaction.
She discovered photography as an independent form of expression in her thirties. She deepened her artistic approach during her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programs between 2021 and 2026. The focus of her Master’s studies was the research of the collodion process, alongside uncovering the unique behavior and creative potential of the medium. In her work, she strives to place archaic techniques into a contemporary context, paying special attention to the autonomous image-making role of collodion and expanding the boundaries of the medium.
Her works have been exhibited on multiple occasions in Budapest, Békéscsaba, Pécs, and Berlin.
She has been a member of the Association of Hungarian Photographers since 2024.
In 2025, she founded the Collosphere artist collective.
Persona – my Selbst
In my project, drawing upon the theories of C. G. Jung, I explored the masks of my own persona. My central question was whether the face of the Selbst—the innermost, deep self—can be constructed through the medium of photography.
Each of the four glass masks is a three-dimensional replica of my own face, which we created together with glass artist James Carcass. I coated the inner surface of the masks with wet collodion, sensitized them with silver nitrate, and then separately exposed the portraits of my mother, my father, my brother, and myself onto each one (MotherMe, FatherMe, BrotherMe, Me). Through this gesture, I sought to make visible and peel back the layers imposed on me by family patterns and roles.
I consider the photograms of the masks to be the final outcome of the creative process, carrying the physical and psychological imprints as a ultimate essence.
