Exhibition: Horatiu Sava – Transsylvania

Opening: 21.01.2014 ore 19
Exhibition: 22.01. – 22.02.2014

In the exhibition “Transsylvania”, the Foto Forum presents works by Horatiu Sava that came into being more than twenty years after fleeing from his home in Romania.

Having escaped to Germany in 1985, more than twenty years later he tours southern Transsylvania (Siebenbürgen), where he grew up in a small town between forests and low mountains, evoking memories of his childhood in pictures of landscape and the village. The rapid changes after the end of the communist era that you see in the big cities are in contrast to the village landscapes, which are characterised by tranquillity and simplicity.

In his prize-winning series “Dacia & Chauffeur”, he photographically documents the last Dacias still on the road, together with their owners. A car that used to be driven by 90% of Romanians and stood for equality now symbolises financial inequality in the society. He would like to show today’s drivers of the Dacia 1300 with respect and sympathy; the owners are attached to their cars for the most varied of reasons.

With astonishment, Horatiu Sava observes the pronounced changes, apparent primarily in the cities. The side effects of capitalism are becoming ever more apparent, and can be seen particularly in formerly communist neighbourhoods. Huge advertising billboards cover the housing blocks and colourful playground equipment dots the areas between. Religion, which was suppressed for a long time, is becoming clearly evident in the form of churches, which can be found in various stages of construction.

Horatiu Sava: born in 1967 in Schäßburg, Transylvania, Romania, lives in Munich, where he manages his own software development company.