Ioana Cîrlig & Marin Raica – Post-Industrial Stories

We are Ioana Cîrlig and Marin Raica, two photographers from Bucharest and we want to start Post-Industrial Stories, an independent documentary photography project that means to provide a thorough study of the areas in the vecinity of important industrial centers from Romania.

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What the plan is
For at least 16 months we will be visiting 27 areas across central and eastern Romania, travelling a total of around 12000 km. We will journey in places with an established tradition in the mining and processing of natural resources (Ro?ia Montana, Zlatna, Brad), mining towns that have in time attracted workers from all around Europe (Anina, Oravi?a, Ciudanovi?a, ?tei, Bai?a) and relatively recent communities established around potential natural resources sites (Valea Jiului, Calanul Nou, Moldova Noua). We will try and live in each area for a few months, see as much as we can and integrate in the local communities to the extent that we are allowed.

Why will it take so long
We have visited these places in the past, but we never had the time to explore them as we wished, time that’s required to tell these stories as truthfully as we can. We were always left with the feeling that what we ended up doing was shallow and unfulfilling. Now, we’re dreaming of a method of working that years of taking pictures have taught us is necessary. By actually living there we can go beyond the skin-deep approach that we’ve previously used when visiting these places and better understand these worlds. We will have the opportunity to meet and listen to the normal people, who are the very foundations of these communities, not just the heroes or the visually dramatic things, and get from asking the simple questions, the ice-breakers, to the tougher ones that uncover the story. Ideally, when all the work is done, we’ll have a project that, thanks to the long-term study, will feature photographs of these places that will be radically different from those in circulation through media channels.This is where you come in
To afford this in depth portrait, we need to buy time and resources. We’ll need money for gas, film stock, lab work and all sorts of day to day living expenses. Nothing fancy, just a coffee in the morning to get us up and running, and a room where our stories gathered over the day can rest. You can help us buy the time we require to carry this project from its idea status to becoming a collection of small realities from Romania. As this is an independent project, any contribution at all grants it a few extra hours or days.

Here’s an example with an approximation of the costs
One day of taking pictures costs us about 600 lei (135 euros). 15 film rolls x 12 frames per roll = 320 lei (70 euros); developing 15 rolls = 150 lei (35 euros); gas = 100 lei (25 euros); expenses = 50 lei (15 euros). For a full, more detailed list of the costs, please contact us directly at ioanacarlig@yahoo.com and marinraica@yahoo.com. We will repay your generosity. By donating, you become uncles, aunts and cousins of the project, so we’ll keep you up to speed with the various discoveries, challenges and surprises that we will encounter on the road. Plus, we’re working on all sorts of nice things for those that help the project grow. At the end, our most steadfast supporters will receive prints and limited edition photo albums. We currently accept donations to the following bank accounts – in lei: IBAN RO74 CECE C001 9462 6651 8311; or in euro: IBAN RO61 BRDE 445S V590 7096 4450. Hopefully soon we will set up a more user-friendly system to receive your contribution.

Post-Industrial Stories thanks you!
We will be starting our journey in October. These pictures were taken in the last couple of years in places we will visit for Post-Industrial Stories and we are using them to present our project.

 

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