The five submitted images are from a long-term project titled, "Return," about memory, identity, war and its aftermath. Begun in early 1990 with a series of train journeys through post communist Eastern Europe to retrace routes my family traversed as stateless Holocaust survivors in the aftermath of WWII, it has developed into a multi-layered body of work about the facets of reality that coexist in the present and about healing and reconciliation. Last summer I spent six weeks in my native city in southern Ukraine with the help of a grant from the Society for Photographic Education, and logistical help from the local Jewish Museum. I met many people and had a range of profound experiences. I plan to go back this coming summer to continue the work. Many of my friends have participated in the Euro Maidan and I'm sure I'll find a different kind of atmosphere than last year.
I’m a Romanian born art and documentary photographer who has lived and worked in Mexico, Europe and the United States. I work on long-term exploratory projects that are informed by themes of transience and loss, individual and collective memory and identity; the state of the world and the neighborhoods where I live. My longest running body of work, titled “Return,” consisting a series of solitary train Journeys through post communist Eastern Europe, to explore the terrain of my early childhood. which my mother, sister and I traversed as stateless refugees after WWII.
Awards My photographic works have earned me grants, residencies and fellowships from a variety of sources, including Art Matters, The Aaron Siskind Foundation, CEC/ArtsLink travel grants, Light Work, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art; Austrian Ministry of Culture, Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Anderson Ranch Art Center, four fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (1994, 1998/2008/2016) and the Creative Artists Project Grant by the Society for Photographic Education. My work have been exhibited regionally, nationally and internationally.
