“The individuality of Anna-Maria Vag’s photography comes through in her sharp choice of anecdotal detail that makes her work supple with directness and wit. Vag has the spirit of a poet and the mind of an ethnographer/archivist. She clearly values the tradition of valuing tradition and historical continuity [and]… celebrates social space and its competing visual legacies.”

—Dominique Nahas, Writer/Cultural Critic/Curator and Faculty at Pratt Institute

Born and raised in New York city, Anna-Mária Vág is a first generation Hungarian-American fine art photographer, filmmaker and writer based in the National Capitol Region. She began her fine art training at age 11 in preparation for her audition to attend the famed LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts where she focused on painting, photography and sculpture and served as Editor of The State of the Arts. Currently enrolled in the University of Oxford Creative Writing Diploma program for prose, poetry and dramatic writing and analytic reading, Vág holds a B.A. in Film with a concentration in English literature from Vassar College with additional coursework at Abelcine, Art Students League, Maine Media Workshops, Pratt Fine Arts Center, School of Visual Arts and UCLA. Other recent studies include philosophy, playwriting and contemplative photography, poetry and design courses with Johns Hopkins University’s Osher Institute, Nalanda Miksang, Shambhala Art and The Living Architecture Academy.

Vág’s work has been commissioned for main reception areas for Capitol One Bank, Evergreen Health, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Heathman Hotel, Roswell Park Cancer Center at the University of Buffalo and the University of Washington Harborview Medical Center. Other public collections and archives include: American Hungarian Foundation Museum, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Hudson County Community College Foundation, Parks Canada National Library, CalPoly, Pittsburgh State and Harvard, Monmouth, Simon Fraser, Susquehanna and Yale universities. Among others, her visual art has exhibited at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Coos Art Museum, Fovea, Hermitage Museum + Gardens, Hickory Museum of Art, Islip Art Museum, Jersey City Museum, Kohler Arts Center, Monmouth Museum, Museum of Flight, New York State Museum, Pace University, Philadelphia Art Alliance, San Luis Obispo Museum and Whatcom Museum.

“With her keen eye, Anna-Maria Vag… gets close enough to [almost ready-made compositions] to bring out a different feeling, a different approach. She does it very well.”

—Helen Ryesky, Art Matters Magazine, Philadelphia

A former Aljira Emerge and InDigEnt fellow, Vág’s work has been seen/discussed in Antietam Review, Art Matters Magazine, Kirkland Living, New Times, F-Stop Magazine, The New York Times, Star Ledger and on CBC Radio. And recognized with awards from Congressional Arts Caucus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Scholastic Arts Foundation in New York City; PX3 Prix de la Photographie and The EIFA (European Independent Film Awards) in Paris; Artwork International in Santa Fe; Capelli d’Angeli Foundation in Connecticut; Photographer’s Forum Magazine in Santa Barbara and the Institute on Rural Poverty at the University of Maine. She has been a guest lecturer and participated on panels at NYU, Ramapo College, Georgian Court University, Tacoma College and various film festivals.

The cinematographer, director, producer and advisor on a multitude of features, shorts and other award winning media projects, Vág has freelanced on projects for ABC, Armani, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Comcast, Food Network, HBO, Habitat for Humanity, International Monetary Fund, MGM, PBS, Schering-Plough, Siemens and Smithsonian Productions. Her film work has been broadcast, distributed and screened at over fifty film festivals and screening series in Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, Russia and throughout the United States at venues such as Anthology Film Archives, Brooklyn Museum, Dovetail Television, IFC Media Lab, Interfilm Berlin, Nassau Club of Princeton, Projecto Videolab, Texas A+M, Videograph Montréal and the Las Vegas, Palm Beach and Rhode Island International Film Festivals.