5 minute read
Local Heroes: Alex Gâlmeanu and Muzeul de Fotografie
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Bucharest-based photographer Alex Gâlmeanu has worked all over Romania doing editorial, advertising, and experimental photography. While most of his photos involve people, Alex is also an avid explorer of his city, continuously discovering places and their history. We spoke to Alex about some of his personal projects, and were delighted to discover a lively and enthusiastic ambassador of Bucharest, its people, and their stories.
Your digital project, Muzeul de Fotografie, has become one of the most authoritative sources of old, documentary-valued photographs in Romania. How did it start? The project started out of pure passion. I’m a professional photographer, so my passions don’t go very far from it. My interest in collecting photographs comes—one way or another—from my family. For almost 35 years, my father was a documentary movie director. Part of his career was dedicated to historical movies, and I believe he inflicted in me this “gene” of curiosity related to history. Photography—a method of remembrance—was a very good fit. It was only a matter of time until I started organizing, maintaining and exhibiting a personal collection of photographs. At first, I posted interesting items on my personal blog as I found them. Seeing a growing interest in them, I decided to separate this endeavor from my personal photography.
Where do the photographs come from? A huge part of Muzeul de Fotografie’s resources—its foundation—is built on my personal collections. However, there are many photos that came from passionate collectors who use the platform to reach the audience we’ve already gained. Some of the most interesting items come from other contributors. This makes me extremely proud, even prouder than I am of my own collection. In order to present the photos as interestingly as possible, we go through a comprehensive process of analysis of each of their elements. However, my colleagues and I make incredible discoveries only after the photos are published—through information received from our public. I’m extremely happy that we formed such a community.
Where do you see this headed? It’s funny how Romania still doesn’t have an official photography museum even though it was among the first countries in which photography was practiced— only three years after its invention. I would love it if this undertaking would go beyond the digital medium. Sooner or later Romania will have such a museum, a physical one; all the material we need is already available. This is some sort of distant plan for me, I admit.
Is there a specific case or story that you discovered, that left a mark on you? Yes, two of them, actually. The first one—a friend donated a collection of glass negatives he bought in an antique shop in the 1990s. I scanned them and discovered a set of family photos that, in a completely involuntary manner, constitute
a very coherent series. The family appears in photos taken over about six different periods of time, all in a similar manner. Originally from the 1920s, the photographs give a feeling of watching a scene from a play. The project could very well be a contemporary one; it’s made with surprising authenticity. The second one is one of our most successful stories in terms of online popularity. It concerns a series of photos taken in the 1960s that show the era’s less photographed facets of Bucharest. As far as I know, they were taken by an American. They show—contrary to expectations and to what history teaches us—the city of Bucharest in one of its most fabulous conditions: modern, clean, filled with beautiful people. It doesn’t look like a black period of Communism, but one in which Bucharest seems to have been very well connected to European trends. I believe the pictures were so well-received in social media, especially by older people, because they were the missing puzzle pieces from their childhood memories. These two milestones were exactly the fuel I needed to go on with the project.
You also initiated a project that involves hanging prints of your photographs around the city. Can you tell us more about it? Muzeul de Fotografie and this project are connected. Photography goes well with history, remembrance; it records and documents certain moments. So, because of Muzeul de Fotografie, I never leave the house without a camera. I have a huge collection of street photographs and I decided I should give some of these back to the community. I made a selection, printed them tp exhibition standards—signed, unique prints— and started hanging them around the city, close to the place they were shot. This way, I see the whole city as an art gallery. Beyond that, I wanted these photographs to end up in good hands, hands that would truly appreciate them. So, whenever I hang one of them up around the city, I publish it on my social media accounts, giving my followers a heads up. Most of the photos disappear in around 10 minutes. I once left one of my photos close to a friend’s house, but didn’t tell her. Incidentally, she saw my Facebook post and called me, telling me that she was going to get it. I told her, “Okay, but hurry up, they go pretty fast.” Her response: “How fast could it go away?! It’s across the road!” As she approached the place, she saw a lady literally running towards it. They arrived at the same time but my friend being my friend, she gave the print up to the other lady. We found out that it was actually the husband that called her while in the supermarket. She abandoned her groceries and came running. I’m absolutely honored that people are participating in this so passionately.
Finally, we’d love to know: what would you say to a photographer who’s traveling to Bucharest for the first time?
Bucharest is a city full of flaws. It doesn’t behave like
an European city, at least not in the conventional way.
It’s extremely heterogenous, completely asymmetrical, built in a direction that no one predicted. You can see its history imprinted the same way you see a huge scar on someone’s face. If I were to visit Bucharest for the first time, I would take advantage of this to the max. It’s a city of contrasts—each of these flaws contributes to an absolutely fabulous city identity that needs to be understood and discovered. ¢ alexgalmeanu.com
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