(2010 - present)
In the heart of Moldova lies Izbişte, my grandparents' village, where time seems to flow differently. What began in 2010 as an intimate portrayal of my childhood refuge has evolved into an exploration of nostalgia, identity, and change in a post-Soviet nation caught between East and West. Since independence in 1991, Moldova has been pulled between competing political and cultural orientations, and it has lost a significant share of its population to emigration.
Working in a documentary style, I capture life in a place that simultaneously evolves and remains unchanged. Here, people live in harmony with natural cycles, maintaining an intimate connection with the land. The images reflect both physical and emotional movement: the migration of working-age Moldovans abroad in search of better opportunities, leaving elderly and children behind, and my own trajectory as someone having spent half of my life abroad.
Every time I returned to Izbişte, I witnessed its subtle transformations while reconciling my dual identity of a child of this place who has grown roots elsewhere. These photographs serve as both documentary evidence and personal testimony, capturing fragments of a place that exists as vividly in my memory as in reality. Through this visual journey, I explore not only my homeland's transformation, but also universal themes of belonging and the inevitable passage of time.
