Photobook Preorder: Tomas Bachot – Those who eat fish from the cyanide lake improve their sex life

June 9, 2016 · by Cristian Bassa · in Documentary, Photobooks, Romania, Submissions

“I met Matei during a student job in the chocolate factory of Malle in 2013. While piling up choco spread pots, he told me about the social debate related to the gold mines’ reopening in his homeland Romania. At his apartment in Turnhout, Matei showed me pictures of the street protests against the foreign mining companies which came to Romania and pictures from Geamăna, a village flooded by the toxic waste of a mine. (…) In January 2015, I decided to take a bus to the Golden Quadrilateral in the Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, shaped by the gold industry over the years.

Through couchsurfing, I stayed at Irina’s house in Deva, in the south of the gold area. One day after dinner with her family I showed my pictures from the first trip. “These pictures have no value for me”, her mother said furiously. “They are a simple negative impression: remote, filthy, run-down…” It was difficult to hear that because I was their guest, and I felt it was true. I came with having a preconceived image of this Romanian region and I was only looking for confirmation.

After seven trips my relationship with the people and the landscape shifted.” – Tomas Bachot