Romania's capital city, Bucharest, displays an elegant past that, after 40 years of communism and corruption, is now reaching levels of decay that may defy renovation. Over the past ten years, I have tried to create a parallel between the image of Princess Brianna Caradja, whose aristocratic family was driven out of Romania by politics, and of the capital city that is crumbling both physically and socially. With my journalistic background, I attempt to mirror the forgotten, ignored grandeur of both the physical and social institutions of my homeland.
Romania's capital city, Bucharest, displays an elegant past that, after 40 years of communism and corruption, is now reaching levels of decay that may defy renovation. Over the past ten years, I have tried to create a parallel between the image of Princess Brianna Caradja, whose aristocratic family was driven out of Romania by politics, and of the capital city that is crumbling both physically and socially. With my journalistic background, I attempt to mirror the forgotten, ignored grandeur of both the physical and social institutions of my homeland.
Romania's capital city, Bucharest, displays an elegant past that, after 40 years of communism and corruption, is now reaching levels of decay that may defy renovation. Over the past ten years, I have tried to create a parallel between the image of Princess Brianna Caradja, whose aristocratic family was driven out of Romania by politics, and of the capital city that is crumbling both physically and socially. With my journalistic background, I attempt to mirror the forgotten, ignored grandeur of both the physical and social institutions of my homeland.
IMPRESSIONS
NATURE REMEMBERED
When I was a boy, I would look with wonder at the intricate ceramic figurines displayed proudly by my grandmother on her living room shelves. Each dusted daily, and enshrined atop a hand-woven doily, these figurines taught me about exotic Japanese costumes, French ballerinas, and animals from the wild corners of our earth. It seemed to make so much sense. To truly appreciate the natural world, all you had to do was capture it, mount it, collect it, and display it. Place a wild thing in a zoo, or a circus, for everyone to enjoy. But to truly honor a beautiful and dangerous animal, we recreate it in art.
So before that last rhino dies, cast it in plaster. Before the gorillas disappear from the mountains, fire them into ceramics. Create a porcelain menagerie, an ark, and gather all the exotic, fragile and exquisite creatures that may not survive our success as a species, and for eternity, let nature be remembered.