Exhibition · 2014

Real Women — 30+1 Portraits of Natural Beauty

Stefánia Palace, Budapest

In my own words

This was my first real statement, and I still stand by every word of it. Thirty-one women, no retouching, no tricks, no digital surgery. I wanted to show that a face doesn't need correcting to be beautiful — that the line beside someone's eye is not a flaw but a receipt for a life actually lived.

Back then this was almost provocative. Everyone was smoothing skin into plastic. I turned the lights down, sat closer, and waited for the moment the mask came off. Looking back, everything I've done since about women, identity and honesty began right there, in the Stefánia Palace.

Gallery

Works from the exhibition

Split image of a red-haired woman: on the left wearing a black lace masquerade mask with a finger to her lips, on the right smiling and holding a black bra playfully by its strap.
Black-and-white studio portrait of a woman resting her chin on her hand, a denim jacket draped over one shoulder.
Collage of a playful woman with short red hair in a blue outfit, making silly faces and posing on the floor.
Close-up portrait of a woman with wavy red hair and a delicate heart-shaped necklace, gazing softly at the camera.
Dramatic portrait of a woman with dark hair in a floral dress, sitting on the floor and looking upward, an arm tattoo visible.
Black-and-white full-length portrait of a blonde woman in a pinstripe blazer and thigh-high boots striking a confident pose.
Close-up portrait of a woman in a black leather jacket with windswept hair, looking upward with an intense gaze.
Close-up beauty portrait of a smiling woman with short highlighted hair and a warm, gentle expression.
Retro pin-up style portrait of a blonde woman in a polka-dot headscarf and black halter dress, adjusting her outfit playfully.
Warm black-and-white portrait of a woman laughing softly in checkered pajamas, lying by a sunlit window.
Triptych of a stylish woman in a leather jacket and sunglasses posing on a city street and sitting on stone steps.
Close-up portrait of a blonde woman with a pearl necklace, looking directly at the camera with a soft smile.
Portrait of a woman with dark hair in a leather jacket, hair blown by wind against a dark backdrop.
Close-up beauty portrait of a mature woman with short dark hair and gentle features against a black background.
Retro-style close-up of a blonde pin-up woman with a red polka-dot headscarf and red cherry earring, pursing her lips.
Black-and-white portrait of a woman with short highlighted hair wrapped in a checked blanket by a window.
Retro sepia-toned portrait of a smiling woman in a black leather jacket, sunglasses pushed up, standing on a city street.
High-key close-up portrait of a blonde woman with a golden bracelet, resting her chin on her hand against a black background.
Sepia-toned close-up portrait of a woman with dark red hair smiling gently, resting her chin on her hand with a ring visible.
Warm portrait of a woman with dark red hair glancing over her bare shoulder, wearing a white feathered wrap.
Two dramatic studio portraits of a woman with auburn hair, one standing in black against a dark backdrop, one seated in a leather armchair in a black dress.
Collage of four black-and-white portraits of a smiling dark-haired woman with bare shoulders in varying poses.
Dramatic low-light portrait of a plus-size woman wrapped in flowing red fabric, seated with black stockings visible.
Vintage-toned close-up of a woman biting a swirled rainbow lollipop, wearing a red polka-dot headscarf.
Low-key nude study of a woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat, seated with knees drawn up, smiling softly.
Moody portrait of a dark-haired woman in a white blouse, gazing thoughtfully to the side against a dark background.
Soft-focus black-and-white close-up of a smiling woman leaning her head against a window frame.
Low-key portrait of a short-haired blonde woman in a fishnet-and-black outfit, kneeling with hands resting on a stool.
Sepia diptych of a laughing woman in sunglasses outdoors, and seated on stone steps beneath a large classical column.
Playful black-and-white portrait of a woman laughing with her head tilted back, arm raised, wearing a leather jacket and jeans.
Formal close-up portrait of an auburn-haired woman resting her chin on her hand, wearing a brown blouse.

© Norbert Bánhalmi / BANHALMI. All rights reserved. Images from the BANHALMI archive, 1999–2026.

Press & media

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Why it belongs here

Why it belongs here

How it connects to the wider work

This was my first real statement, and I still stand by every word of it. Thirty-one women, no retouching, no tricks, no digital surgery.

Period of the oeuvre

II2014–2016Human stories and historical memory

Read about this period

Connected records

Presence-research period · IV

Institutions, books and exhibitions

This exhibition belongs here because of the question behind it, the photographs it brought together and the traces it left in public.

Archive overviewInstitutions, books and exhibitions Press and moving imageReal Women — 30+1 Portraits of Natural Beauty Curatorial dossierResearch context