From October 16 to 19, Art Market Budapest showcased an exhibition featuring the works of the 2025 FUTURES talents. Before the exhibition, Capa Center initiated five online dialogs in between ten FUTURES talents, creating five brief one-to-one conversations, that is, elevator chats.¹ In our upcoming posts, we present the five elevator chats, which are provide a quick insight into the current issues explored, the artistic practices pursued, and the diverse techniques applied by these talented emerging photographers. In this post you can read the conversation between Sára Kölcsey-Gyurkó (HU) and Zoe Hamill (IE).

Sára Kölcsey-Gyurkó is a commercial and documentary photographer from Hungary, Pécs. She started her career at the age of 32, after she gave birth to her fourth child. She thrives on the opportunity to capture a story by framing complex scenes.  She works on several long-term projects with subjects closely related to her own life events and experiences. As an artist and mother she captures the life of women, girls, and mothers. She strongly believes that they all deserve to be seen, and also to be heard. 

Zoe Hamill is a photographer from Co. Antrim, now living in Edinburgh. Zoe is interested in the relationship between humans and the environment, as well as the systems of classification that we use to make sense of the world around us. She works on long term photographic projects, drawing on scientific and historic research as well as lived experience to tell a story about a place or subject. Her background research has been informed by photography’s history as a tool of imperialism and this is something that she works to recognise and subvert within her photographic practice.

The conversation between Sára and Zoe:

Sára: Hi! I hate to bother people, but unfortunately, time is running out. We have exactly three days to talk and choose the two pictures for the exhibition. Did you get my email? Or would you prefer to talk here? I hope you’re well. Best, Sara

Zoe: Hi Sara, so sorry for the delay! I am currently travelling home and don’t have access to a computer. But I will reply to your email today and we can continue the chat! I didn’t realise there was a deadline, when do we need to finish our chat?

Sára: Sorry for writing all over the place. The deadline is October the 10th.

Zoe: No worries at all! Shall we continue here then? We travelled by train, and stopped in Dresden on the way back from Prague. Then sleeper train from Dresden to Brussels -> eurostar from brussels to London later today -> train from London to Edinburgh tomorrow! Long journey but it’s been great.

Can you tell me a bit about yourself? Where are you from in Hungary and what’s it like there?

Sára: Wow! We also travelled by train but it only took 9 hours. I also prefer travelling by train than by plane.

So, I am from Pécs. It is a town with a Mediterranian vibe, close to Croatia. It has a big university with lot of foreign students (especially at the medical field) and a very vibrant cultural life. Vasarely (a famous painter, possibly you know him) was born and raised here, so there is a collection of his paintings and stuff is here in the Vasarely museum.

I like this city because I have lots of friends, lots of artists and still it is not that overwhelming than the capital.

I live with my family close to the nature, which plays an important role in my life, in my everydays. I am 42 years old and I am a mother of 4 boys. I became a mother when I was 22, so my kids are quite big now.

I started my career 10 years ago and I am very grateful that I have found photography.

I have to go now, but feel free to write something about yourself.

Zoe: Oh Pécs sounds lovely, I love that you mention living close to nature, that’s something that I miss! I grew up in a rural area and my first job was working on a farm, I spent a lot of time with my family walking and working outdoors. I didnt realise how much it meant to me until I moved away.

I have a complicated relationship with where I’m from, I love it there but the politics and history are difficult, everything is divisive. I moved to Edinburgh for better opportunities and its a beautiful city, but I miss home.

I like using photography to explore these ideas, I made a series about where I grew up called A Map Without Words, which I’ve been working on for 10 years (!)

What kind of work do you make?

Sára: Have you heard about forest bathing? Are there any forests around Edinburgh?
Do you have any relatives, friends there?

I also like to play with the idea what do we call home. A place, an object, a memory… I also have a collection of photographs about this topic. I wouldn’t call it a project, the images are not that strong, but they mean a lot to me.

I started my career as a documentary family photographer and I also photographed many weddings. I had a quite unique style and people loved it. I gave up because I wanted to work more on my personal projects. All of them are related to my life experiences as a mother and as a cancer survivor. I love photographing people (mostly women) and just letting my subconscious work how I see the people around me.

This is from a project Kids at weddings:

And some portraits from my “serious” work:

From where do you get inspiration?

Zoe: These are beautiful, I especially like these two images together.

Yes I heard about forest bathing! It sounds similar to the way I enjoy being in nature, I don’t hike or camp, nothing extreme! I just enjoy sitting outside and spending time with the environment. I also made a series about trying to find this connection in my new location in Scotland – I travelled to places that looked like they should remind me of home but instead it made me realise what was missing. Without connection to the place, the images all came out slightly ‘off’ or distant.

I have great friends in Edinburgh now, and the new project I’m working on has helped me find a connection with the landscape here.  It’s different but that’s not always a bad thing.

I would say I find inspiration in observing the world around me, i’m very curious (or nosey!) and photography is a great tool to investigate things and ideas. I also like to draw on my own experiences and background, because I think those are where the strongest projects come from. I don’t want to tell someone else’s story, I would rather help them tell it themselves.

I’m really intrigued by your portraits, I rarely ever photograph people because I enjoy the solitary nature of what I do. It must be quite different to work with others to create an image, do you enjoy the collaborative aspect and are there any challenges? How do you make it work?

Sára: That sounds absolutely valid, still I love these images (maybe because it differs from our forests).

What is your new projects about? When did you move to Edinburgh?

I think I am half an introvert and half an extrovert. Probably a good mix for observing people and being open enough to get to know their background, their stories etc. The challenge is to be able to reflect their true selves and not to impose my own perspective on them. It is also important to be sensitive and patient, but at the same time firm. I read a lot of podcasts and books by photographers, and the most exciting part is always when they reveal their studio secrets. These are all inspiring. Just give everything time and don’t be afraid of people.

I like collaborating. but also like to be spontenaous. Depends on the work.

Do you have a favourite book, a photographer, a film or an artist as an inspiration?

Zoe: I’ve been in Scotland for 11 years now, and quite soon after I moved here I noticed this big red hill that didn’t look like anything I’d seen before.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/mar/16/west-lothian-scotland-spoil-heap-wastelands-shivered-into-life

I was really curious and wanted to learn more about them, after some research i found out that this is a shale bing (or heap). Its a big pile of shale rock that was mined, processed to produce oil, and then discarded. There were many across Scotland, where there was an early boom in oil production in the 1860s before crude oil was discovered in America.

But now this bing is a unique habitat that supports all kinds of wildlife and plant species, and I was really interested in this transformation, from industrial waste -> biodiversity haven. I also started to wonder if I could transform the way I think about landscape and photography. Photography has so often been used to record the natural world in order to classify and exploit it, especially in it’s early history as a tool of colonialism.

Instead of surveying and examining the bing, I would like us (me and the bing) to work together to make images that leave some of its secrets intact. I’ve been soaking my film in water from the bing, burying negatives there and using plants gathered there to develop my negs and prints. I’m also using old cameras and expired film to remove some of the control that I’m used to, and encourage unpredictability. It’s tough to unlearn all the things that I think a photo should be and embrace the imperfection!

One of the books that was important in my research for this series was The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh. It really opened my eyes to the concept of animism & indigenous ways of relating to the landscape, as well as giving me a better understanding of the history of colonialism and environmental exploitation.

Oh the new project is called Primary Succession, I forgot.

Thats a lot about me! Is Postpartum the main series you are currently working on?

Sára: I love this! Basically letting go all the expectations and leave it to Nature do her work. Stunning. I love the concept of imperfect, lost and found images.

It is also an interesting topic that exploiting Nature is a way of colonisation. I have never thought about connecting the two.

The town where I used to work, Komló was also used for mining for coal for a 100 year. And I was also interested how did it change the life of the people there, especially after the mines were closed in 2000. I started a project about this as well, but unfortunately I had to put it aside. I hope I can work on it later, because now, seeing your project  I became  very enthusiastic.

Well, the plan is to finish Postpartum in 2026 and try to find the right place to exhibit. I have just won a three years scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Arts for my project Fight like a girl. Portraits and stories of women with breast cancer. Unfortunately I am also affected by the disease. I would like to break down the taboos and give hope to women who are on the start of their cancer journey.

I wanted to get out of my comfort zone for this project and I decided to go to a studio.

I will see… It is an easy subject, but will try my best to make a very humanistic piece of work on this topic.

So, that’s my work in a nutshell. I am a bit sorry we didn’t have the opportunity to talk more in Prague, but I hope we will keep updated about our work. I guess, we have to select a picture for the exhibition.

Zoe: You can always come back to it at some other time, I hope you do because it looks great!

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had to go through that, I hope you keep well. It’s such an important and deep topic, I love that you are approaching it in a different way – the studio shots look super interesting! And your personal experience will add so much sensitivity and understanding to the work. Well done on the scholarship, that sounds like an amazing opportunity, can’t wait to see how the project develops!

This one reminds me of a subversion of the ‘hidden mother’ technique in victorian photography, where the mother is covered in a cloth so the child can be photographed.

You’re right, we better get choosing! Shall we pick one of each other’s images? (With some discussion/the option to vetoe of course!) Or do we think there are two images that speak to each other? Or we could also just pick our favourite image, that we would like to be on show!

Sára: I guess that would be nice!

Zoe: Oh those are nice!

Sára: Love it.

Zoe: I like these two together but I think you’re image should be a portrait, because it feels like people are so important to your work

Sára: Yes, i would prefer that too. Let’s stay with this pair.

Zoe: I like that theyre visually similar (with the blue) but I think theyre both about growth and resilience too. You collaborate with people and I collaborate with place, I think it all makes sense!

Sára: Okay..I guess we are done. Thank you for your collaboration and I hope to hear from you soon!

Zoe: One last one because I think they’re beautiful together:

Sára: Wow!

Zoe: Totally up to you which pair you would like to go for! Im happy with either

Sára: Okay, let me ponder that for a while.

Zoe: Of course, take your time! It’s been so nice to get to know more about you and your work, thanks for inviting me to share.

Sára: I think this pair is very deep and symbolic. Let’s choose this one. Thanks for your patience.

Zoe: I agree, I think the scratches on the film and the stitches on your body link the images really strongly. Skin and film as a surface, damaged but still beautiful.

FUTURES – European Photography Platform started in 2017. This cooperation, which connects 20 photography centers across 20 European countries, set as one of its main goals to scout remarkable new talents and introduce them into the world of international photography, and into the art market inparticular. Each institution participating in FUTURES selects five emerging artists per yearand then creates a number of situations for them–exhibitions, roundtable discussions, tutoring, portfolio reviews, workshops, and virtual events–where they can establish professionalrelationships with people from different areas of expertise within photography, and with eachother. 

FUTURES – European Photography Platform is co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Commission.

Capa Center’s FUTURES talents in 2025: Anna Gajewszky, Lujza Hevesi-Szabó, Sára Kölcsey-Gyurkó, Olivér Lantos, Hunor Tóth

The The Elevator Chats 3.0 exhibition was organised by the Capa Center and curated by Emese Mucsi. 

The exhibiting artists were: Gajewszky Anna (HU) & Emilia Martin (PL), Hevesi-SzabóLujza (HU) & Matteo Buonomo (IT), Kölcsey-Gyurkó Sára (HU) & Zoe Hamill (IE), Lantos Olivér (HU) & Alessio Pellicoro (IT), Tóth Hunor (HU/RO) & Igor Schiller (RS/NL)

1. The elevator pitch or elevator chat is an impromptu self-introduction technique performed in monologic or dialogic form, allowing the speaker to transfer substantial information to their interlocutor about themselves or the project they are working on.  ↩︎