A brilliant way to save our memories is photographing, the photos we take last for a long time with us if we keep them safe. Victor Galusca, a film student had found some old pictures and had thought of returning them to the owners. He had been to a village named Rosietici, Moldova, and had found 6 people from those photos. Then he has had a little talk with them about how their lives are and stuff. And after they were given the photos all of them had been so happy. The photographer of those photos is Zaharia Cușnir, he had been the only photographer that the village had. The Bored Panda had spoken with the artist and he had explained his experience.More info: Instagram | zaharia.md | Facebook
#1 Zaharia Cușnir, the person in the middle
He had been in this village all his life and had photographed the lives of the people in the village. Zaharia who was born in 1912 had passed away in 1993.
#2 Axenia Bulhac
He had said that the lady had been very happy to receive the photo. And as her relatives had seen the photo online she knew about this photo. After she got it she had searched for a place. And as she was not able to hear he couldn’t communicate with the lady. They had just smile had some tea and given her the photo.
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#4. Tamara Cușnir
She is a relative of the photographer, not a close but a distant one. And she remembers him as an intelligent and interesting person. The lady had been in love with a person, an accountant who had been visiting the village on Soviet military service. But at last, he had chosen another woman for him but this had not forgotten their time as she had a photograph of the person. Victor had seen the photograph and found that the person lives in another village. And that his name is Vasile Tokarchuk.
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#6. Vasile Tokarchuk
The man had not forgotten the lady Tamara and he had said that they were to marry but it had not happened after an argument. And Victor had seen some of their youth photos and had seen that in one of them Tamara had been cut off from the frame.Â
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#8. Aurel Samanuic
This person is one of the 300 people who still live in the village. But as Victor had said both Aurel and his son plans on going to Germany or somewhere else for work. His son owns 200 sheep and it’s hard to manage them. And after them seeing the photo his wife had even joked him saying that she wouldn’t have married him if she knew that he walked around with a broken shoe. She had said so because in the photo his shoe is broken.
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#10. Sergiu Cebotari
After receiving the photo this mad had cried. He had worked as a postman in his life and now is very weak and is lying on the bed. This person had been close with the photographer for some time and after had been family to him. He had married one of Zaharia’s daughters who had been in his class. And after Loana’ his wife’s death in 2019 he has also become weak. Victor had said that this person told him that this isn’t life and he’s waiting to die.
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#12. Vera Borsh
This lady had not remembered the photographer much as he had only taken her photograph twice. But had remembered why she took the photo. She herself had made the dress and after finishing its work she had taken the photo. Ans as Victor had said the lady had not said about having a hard life she might have spent a simple life in the village.
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#14. Afterward Victor had shared information on how he da found these pictures
He had found these while doing a documentary as a film school student in a village that was almost abandoned. This man had said that the village looked like a cemetery. He had gone inside to the abandoned houses and then had found things left out by people and the photos.
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#16. There had been many photos left out in the house
He had found these in one of the houses and had been surprised to see the negatives. He had said that he remembers how he felt while collecting them but as he is no poet he cannot describe the feeling well. And had said that all he can say is that he had a night dream of collecting treasure from trash and that day he did, and the dream never came.
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#18. Victor had somehow found Zaharia’s daughter and she had let him use the photos
He had his photograph teacher had together had cleaned the negatives and even found some of Zaharia’s daughter’s young days. And then had printed and given them to her. And also he had spoken about Zaharia with his daughter and her husband.
#19. Then he had started the project to find the people and hand them the photos
And he had posted the pictures on Facebook and their Website. Afterward, many people had commented saying that they recognize some of the people as their relatives or neighbors. And that’s how he had found the information. Then after listing them with his team he had visited 6 people.
#20 Photographs of the village captured by Victor
He had shared some more information about his journey with the Bored Panda, like how he thought to leave Moldova after schooling as his relatives did. He had decided to stay as this project is big and has a lot of work. And had also said that along with his team he organized exhibitions in countries like Moldova, Romania, and Poland. Also had printed an album named Lumea Lui Zaharia. And had also said about his plans for summer in 2021.
#21 He plans to make a studio by restoring Zaharia’s house
He had said that he would like to restore Zaharia’s house and make an artistic lab there. And also he wishes to remake some more abandoned houses in the village. He thinks that through this the village could be received. And also wishes to make his country a better place for people to love being there. He had said that his family lives abroad as the country is corrupted and insatiable. And also they had made a Patreon page to go further with their ideas.
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He had said that he is a documentary filmmaker who is based in Chisinau and that he works for the Radio Free Europe Moldova. You can see the film he was shooting when he discovered this abandoned house of Zaharia. And also can find out a documentary about their project from here.
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