Pride and Concrete | Mândrie și Beton photo exhibition at RCC

Join us for the opening of the photo exhibition
Pride and Concrete | Mândrie și Beton
The success story of those gone to work abroad

As part of the event we will screen the short film "Pride and Concrete", followed by a Q&A with the creators of the project, Ioana Hodoiu and Petruț Călinescu, moderated by Dr. Ger Duijzings


“The golden rule: you never eat away your profit. If today you make 50 EUR, you set 40 EUR aside. If you start indulging yourself, like going to bars and restaurants... you’re never going to make money. Never! As the French say: Jamais!”

The lifting of the last restrictions on the English labour market applied to Romanians and Bulgarians whipped up a storm in the British media. Although most politicians and media outlets frantically asked How many more?, getting stuck in statistical predictions, there was little space for talking about immigrants on a more personal level as well as the impact it has on the their home countries.

PRIDE AND CONCRETE | MÂNDRIE ŞI BETON documents the socio-economic changes occurring in traditional villages, especially the ones in Țara Oașului and Maramureș, following the wave of migration abroad, in search of work. In their project, photographer Petruţ Călinescu and researcher Ioana Hodoiu have captured the tension between the first generation of immigrants, who dreams of returning home and the younger one who dreams of breaking “the curse of the concrete” which forces them, according to tradition, to invest their hard-earned money in multi-floored houses in their native villages.

These big houses prevent both generations from fulfilling their dreams. Those who dream of returning to Romania are forced to work far away from their homes in order to maintain them, while those who dream of making a life abroad are forced to invest all their money in finishing these houses. And, in many cases, this can last a lifetime.

ABOUT
PETRUȚ CĂLINESCU is a freelance photographer, based in Bucharest, Romania, with a BA in Journalism and Communication Sciences. He has worked for the main journals in Romania and for AFP, and is being represented by Panos Pictures.

IOANA HODOIU has been in turn and sometimes at the same time, ethnologist, copywriter, journalist, editor, TV reporter, managing editor and communication manager. She graduated from the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Letters, Ethnology and Folklore Department.

DR. GER DUIJZINGS is Reader in the Anthropology of Eastern Europe at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London (UCL), and Co-Director of the UCL Urban Laboratory. Currently he is doing research on urban transformations, social inequality and the new elites in post-socialist cities, in particular in Bucharest.