Photography as ethnographic document 2026: 40 photographers of today’s village, on show from 21 October

The national competition “Photography as ethnographic document”, F-DE 2026, opens its exhibition on 21 October at the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania. The pictures show the contemporary Romanian village, taken by 40 photographers from Romania and Poland.

It is organised by the “Tradiții clujene” Centre for Culture and Art, an institution of Cluj County Council, with Art Image and the Ethnographic Museum. The jury was Mircea Albu, president of Art Image, researcher Cosmina Mocanu Timoce and professors Dorel Găină and Karoly Feleki.

The prizes

The “Carol Popp de Szathmáry” trophy for black and white went to Both Gyula of Târgu Mureș for “Feerie de iarnă”. In colour, the “Szabó Tamás” trophy went to Nagy Botond, also of Târgu Mureș, for “Comoara din pod”.

From Cluj, Maria Alexandra Ciceo won in the “Reproduction after an old photograph” section with “La fân”. The ethnologist’s special prize, for the best-documented entry, went to Marco Algasovschi of Brașov.

Context

The competition has a history in Cluj: at its 21st edition, in 2024, the exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum brought together more than 150 recent ethnographic photographs by more than 50 photographers from three countries.

The black-and-white trophy is named after Carol Popp de Szathmári, born in Cluj in 1812, a painter and graphic artist, the first art and documentary photographer of the Kingdom of Romania and one of the first ten photographers in Europe.

The village the entrants document can also be seen in the Romulus Vuia Ethnographic Park, the museum’s open-air section, where peasant buildings have been moved and rebuilt.

Source

The prize list and jury are as published by the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania on 16 October 2026. The opening time had not been announced when we checked. The context comes from the sources below.