# Silvia Vaculíková

Silvia Vaculíková (born 22 July 1967) is Slovak writer, photographer and traveler. She mainly photographs simple people in their natural environment, recording local customs, religion and culture. Her photos, won her many awards.

## Life

Vaculíková was born in Trnava. She is the great-granddaughter of the inventor of the parachute, Štefan Banič, and the granddaughter of the discoverer of the Driny cave in Smolenice. After finishing her studies, she worked in a travel agency and subsequently founded her own travel agency focusing on destinations. She lives and works in Bratislava and has traveled through five continents, visiting 122 countries.

## Publications

* The World of People. 2007.
* Customs. 2009.
* Travelling the World. 2013.
* The World on a Palm. 2016.
* A travel book Through an Unusual World. 2019.

## Awards

* 2 awards at the International Photography Exhibition, The History of Mankind in Beijing, China under the auspices of the UNESCO in 2000
* A medal of the AFOCER show- Cerdanyola del Valles – Spain, at the AQÜADUCTE 2000 competition, under the auspices of FIAP
* Honorable mention of FIAP for a set of photographs – STROM 2000 – Ružomberok
* 2nd prize at the Competition and Exhibition of Artistic Photography 2001 organized by the Association of Slovak Photographers – Ružomberok
* Honorable mention of FIAP for a set of photographs – FOTOFÓRUM 35 – Ružomberok, 2002
* Honorable mention of the Association of Slovak Photographers 2002 for a photo-story – Ružomberok
* 2nd place at the regional round of AMFO and DIAFOTO 2002 – Pezinok
* 1st prize at the Czecho-Slovak competition of travel photography AMADEUS – Prague, Czech Republic in 2002
* 1st prize at the Czecho-Slovak competition of travel photography AMADEUS – Prague, Czech Republic in 2003
* 2nd place at the regional round of AMFO and DIAFOTO 2004 – Pezinok
* 1st place at the HORY a MESTO festival, the People and Culture category, 2004 – Bratislava
* 5th place in a WATT 2004 photo competition, in the "Story" category – Bratislava
* Main prize at the HORY a MESTO festival for a set of portraits in 2006
* 1st place at the HORY a MESTO festival, the People and Culture category, 2008 – Bratislava
* Honourable mention of the Association of Slovak Photographers for Digital Macrophotography – detail, Ružomberok 2011
* Award for documentary photo "Documentary Award of The Humanity Photo Awards 2011" on the occasion of the opening of exhibition "Memories of Mankind VII" for portfolio "Voodoo in Benin" in Kunming, China, under the auspices of UNESCO, held in 2011.
* Gold Medal in the photograph competition 12th Special Themes Circuit Trierenberg in Emotions – Human Relations Theme in Austria in 2013
* Honourable Mention by Photo Association of Serbia at 2nd International Salon of Photography FKNS – Grand Prix 2013 in Novi Sad, Serbia
* Highly Commended award at 9th Swansea Digital International organized by Swansea Camera Club in Swansea, UK, in 2013
* Bronze Medal at BUFSAD Photo Contest in Bursa, Turkey, in 2014
* Honorary Mention awarded by The Royal Photographic Society – STROM 2015—Ružomberok
* 2 prizes for 2 series of documentary photography " Performance Award of The Humanity Photo Awards 2015" for portfolio "Bungee jumping of Pentecost Island" and "Small and Big Nambas Tribe" in Beijing, China, under the auspices of UNESCO in 2015
* The prize of the Association of Slovak Photographers in the category Colours of the Earth – Ružomberok 2016
* The Prize for series of documentary photographs in “Performance Award of The Humanity Photo Awards 2017“ category for portfolio “Kawa Drinking Ritual“ in Beijing, China, under the auspices of UNESCO in 2017
* Gold medal GFWP at ASIA PACIFIC CUP 2018 photo competition, Category: Photojournalism, Australia 2018
* 2005: AZSF title – The Author of the Association of Slovak Photographers – in Ružomberok, and the AFIAP title – Artiste FIAP – The International Federation of Photographic Art – in Belgium.
* 2007: Photograph of the year 2007 in the Slovak Republic.
* 2009: EFIAP – Excellence de la Fédération Internationale de l´Art Photographique (Excellence of the International Federation of Photographic Art).
* In 2015 she was awarded the title "Personality of Bratislava – Ruzinov borough" by its mayor Dusan Pekar to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the city district existence.

## Collections

Silvia Vaculíková ´s photos have been exhibited at several international FIAP photoshow s e.g. in Argentina, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Scotland, Brazil, France, Great Britain, Poland, San Marino, Norway, Czech Republic, Qatar, Austria, Russia, Vietnam, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and China.
Vaculíková´s EFIAP and AZSF photographs can be found in the collections of The International Photography Museum in Cerdanyol, Spain, the World Folklore Photo Museum(HPA), Beijing, China, Photoforum Ružomberok, Slovakia, Golden Foundation of the ASPRužomberok, Slovakia and in the collection of the gallery FotoGaléria Nova in Košice.

## Solo exhibitions

* 1999 Vietnam and Cambodia in the eyes of women, Hotel Kyjev, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2000 People from faraway countries, Atrium Poštova banka, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2001 People from faraway countries, The House of Art, Pieštany, Slovakia
* 2002 People from faraway countries, Hotel Kyjev, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2005 People from faraway countries, Hotel Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2007 The World of People, Bratislava castle, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2007 The World of People, The House of Art, Pieštany, Slovakia
* 2008 The World of People, Kültür Merkezi, Istanbul, Turkey
* 2008 The World of People, FotoGalery Nova, Košice, Slovakia
* 2008 The World of People, Vuotalo Cultural Center, Helsinki, Finland
* 2009 The World of People, Regional library of central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland
* 2009 The World of People, Tashkent House of Photography, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
* 2015 The World of People, Travel Gallery, Bratislava, Slovensko
* 2018 Memories of the Mankind, PROFIL Gallery, Central European House of Photography, Bratislava, Slovakia
* 2019 Memory of Mankind, FOTOEXPO Fair 2019, Národný Dom na Vinohradoch, Prague, Czech Republic

## Sources

* "Silvia Vaculíková". Silvia-foto.eu. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
* "Rozhovor s T. Pauhofovou / Cestopis Túlanie svetom / Svadba v divadle / O premiérach v Činohre SND | Televízia TA3". Ta3.com (in Slovak). 19 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
* "Silvia Vaculíková: Rada zachytávam obyčajných ľudí". Zena.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 7 January 2016.
* "HPA2015-Silvia Vaculikova-Bungee Jumping of Pentecost Island|THE HUMANITY PHOTO AWARDS 2015". 2015.hpa.org.cn. 16 October 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2016.