I tried to avoid the obvious: mountains of decaying flowers, tons of burning candles and religious symbols (ironically, Church members did not show up nor did they say anything about it) poems, pieces of writing from loved ones, pictures, the huge public manifestations and most importantly the political hoax. These things did not matter, those 63 people are gone, 7 of which I was friends with for a very long time. I was paralyzed by the portraits of the deceased ones laying on the street, which succumbed to decay, and started fading away after the rain poured on them.
The images are on public display. These faces will always be remembered by their friends and loved ones, but for the common citizen that had nothing to do with any of the victims, these withering pictures are all that will remain of this incident.
The impact of the tragedy fades away fast, only a shadow, a black trace remains. I used film... I pushed the sensibility (ISO) to the maximum. It implies a procedure where the chemicals need more time to burn the negative in order for the image to appear.
The events that took place burned inside our minds and souls, leaving traces, shadows, and large devoid areas. It’s like waking up from a nightmare and that eerie sensation stays with you all day, but the images fade away in little to no time.
The collective image dissipates from the Colectiv club incident. This project is not about the victims. It’s not about the absurd political games behind the scenes neither is it about the 18.300 churches, nor the brand new state-of-the-art Burnt Unit from Floreasca hospital that was out of order and unable to receive even a single victim. These images are not about that...
Every time I attempt to grasp what happened there, I fail miserably. I am incapable of finding any reason to express and explain that event. It’s beyond me. These images are about us forgetting sad events all too fast, and about how our mind tries to protect itself from the oblivious: the fact that we can fade away in a second, the fact that we can easily be forgotten…
Images fade, but the voices of those who passed away will last a bit longer.
It is normal to forget, but let us remember.
Commissioned by Telekom Electronic Beats.