Tamas Dezso – Romania (early work)

 

Pressing ahead towards a united Europe, Romania began breaking down its physical and intellectual barriers, while tiny enclaves of human communities remained lying deep in its timeless corners. The historic will aimed to shorten a physical and intellectual distance, while these micro-communities continued to live their austere, disciplined lives by keeping to their ancient traditions and adjusting to the severity of nature’s laws. When Romania was generally preparing for change during the years preceding its 2007 accession to the European Union, in the regions sentenced to remain unchanged I was able to witness the eternal power of food shared together, a haystack piled up together and the existential reality of an animal driven home together – how deeply rooted the community of fate is where the joint salvage of a flooded house, life shared in a single room and bidding a communal farewell to the dead represent bonds of affinity woven with resolute integrity. The images document the invisible moments of a country today referred to as a member state in official EU diplomat-speak and as “the tattered and fantastic land of hope” by the Hungarian writer Péter Esterházy.

Tamas Dezso

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More images on Tamas Dezso’s website. Tamas Dezso (b. 1978) is a documentary photographer working on long-term projects focusing on the
margins of society in Hungary, Romania and in other parts of Eastern Europe. His photographs have been published in TIME, The New York Times, National Geographic, GEO, Le Monde Magazine, The Sunday Times, PDN, Ojo de Pez, HotShoe, The British Journal of Photography and many others.