Unwanted Butterfly, Tamás Urbán

Unwanted Butterfly spent half of his 40 years behind bars, so he had plenty of time to have his whole body tattooed. He was an unusual sight in Socialist Hungary, comfortable both in the prison and in the Budapest underground scene, doing gigs with the famous band Sziámi in the Black Hole alternative club, drawing, painting, creating puzzles, and writing a journal. Photojournalist Tamás Urbán met him in 1988 for the first time, in the Csillag Prison of Szeged, Hungary. The book presents a selection of the photographs taken in the following six years – until Butterfly’s death in 1994 – as well as of the objects and documents collected by Tamás, and of Butterfly’s journal.

The Archive of Modern Conflict is an organisation dedicated to the collection and preservation of vernacular photographs, objects, artefacts, curiosities, and ephemera. Founded in 1991, the archive began as a collection of photographs relating to war and conflict but has since expanded its remit to become the vast and thematically diverse repository it is today.

Published by Archive of Modern Conflict
Softcover
192 pages
190 x 250 mm
ISBN 9786155798177