Traditions

September 2010

No.16

“traditions photography”

Team Coordinator : Sebastian Vaida sebastianvaida@cameraobscura.ro

Senior Editor : Marius Ioan Groza mariusioangroza@cameraobscura.ro

Junior Editor : Alin Barbir alinbarbir@cameraobscura.ro

Cover by Clark James Mishler

Featured Photographers Interviews: • • • • •

Clark James Mishler ……………………………………………………………………………….....................…........6 Peter Korniss ……………………………………………………………………………………………...........................15 Stefan Nielsen .………………………………………………………………………………………….......................23 Diego Goldberg ..................……………………,,………………………,………………………………………..........31 Ursula Becker…………………..................…………………………………,……………………………………............37

Traditions worldwide: • • • • •

Ursula Becker & Lana Bartolot – Last Saxons in Romania ..……..................………………….........40 Nick Yoon – Passion & Faith. Easter in Sicily …………………………………………..................…..........49 Sebastian Vaida – Traditions. The Easter People ……………………………………..............................56 Sorin Onişor – Coal Workers – “Bocşarii” …………………………………………………...........................65 Sorin Onişor – The Ironmongery …………………………………………………………….............................70

Photography Projects: • Anthony Copping – “Last Voices Project” ……………………………………………….............................77 • Andrei Shapran - “The Edge of the World. Remote Lands Photoproject” ..…………………………………………….…............................88

“To preserve a way of life that will soon disappear!”

Peter Korniss

Interviews

Š Clark James Mishler

www.mishlerphotos.com

Clark James Mishler Interview

CO - What’s the source of your passion for photography ?

CJM - The source of my passion? Good question. What I like about answering these types of questions is that I am forced to think, to remember. When is the moment when someone realizes they have come upon something that will be with them for the rest of their lives? I think you need to be ready in life. My grandfather taught me to draw at age 9 and to paint at age 12. I have dyslexia and I did not learn to read two words in succession until I was 16. My parents were very supportive of my interests and taught me to follow my heart. So, when I was introduced to photography at the Art Center in Los Angeles, I recognized I had found something important. I was prepared and open to this new and wonderful world. I owe everything to those who prepared me early on; they are the source of my passion.

A young Yup’ik girl at fish camp near Kwethluk, Alaska

CO - Your biography tells us about you working with National Geographic.

What meant for you the collaboration with such a big brand?

Yupik elder, Olinka K. Nicolai, at home with her great grandaughter, Josephine Allice Guy, in Kwethluk, Alaska

CJM - I often say that working at the National Geographic Magazine was like going to school and getting paid for it. I attended the Missouri Photo Workshop in my late 20’s. I had heard that this particular workshop was one of the best routes to the Geographic as many photographers had been “discovered” there. As a trained graphic designer, however, my goal was to work for the magazine as a layout editor. I did well as a photographer and was voted the “most improved” photographer for the week. It was, however, my skill at drawing that got my foot in the door and led to my interview and the offer to join the staff.

I spent two years at the magazine in Washington DC and loved working with some of the best photographers in the world. I was young, single and spent long hours at the magazine, often late into the evenings followed by late dinners with small groups of photographers and writers.

It is difficult to overestimate that kind of immersion and how it influenced my professional life. It was also really cool to see your picture decisions, layout, and design ideas published into 10 million magazines each month! Through the process, I learned a great deal about the printed page and the elements that contribute to great imagery.

Vera Spein cuts salmon with a traditional ulu knife at fish camp. Subsistence activities near the village of Kethluk in southwest Alaska

CO - Did the collaboration with National Geographic helped you in your photography career?

CJM - I believe I learned a great deal that has helped me during my career. Perhaps the most important item was the fact that I could hold my own with some of the best in the world. That kind of confidence is hard to come by.

CO - What’s a successful photograph to you? What do you consider to be the most important: the equipment, the light, the imagination or your abilities for taking such an image?

Subsistence salmon, Phillip Akelkok, Ekwok, Alaska, Subsitence life style of the Nushagak River, Ekwok, Alaska June 27, 2007

CJM - I have always said that a successful photograph must communicate, first and foremost. A great image is never about the equipment, it is always about seeing. We all have a unique way of seeing. And, despite the fact that we are all using the same basic equipment, we all use it

slightly differently and our images have the potential to be very personal. CO - Is it important to study a particular event or behavior before capturing I love it when a photographer communicates with his or her imagery important moments with your camera? while presenting something of themselves.

CJM - I think that any amount of homework or scouting will generally improve an image. Sometimes just thinking about the possibilities can be very helpful. There is nothing worse than coming back from a shoot thinking: “I should have done this or that”. I little forethought can really pay dividends.

Vera Spein cuts and hangs salmon at fish camp near Kwethluk, Alaska

CO - How do you manage to transform a daily activity into such a beautiful one frame story?

CJM - The “one frame story” is a challenge and it is not easy. I lament the near absence of the multiple frame story, where the photographer has an opportunity to show a number of sides of the subject and the viewer is able to gain a three-dimensional impression. Over the past 20 years, we have seen the “picture story” shrink as magazines have squeezed stories down to a single image and one page of text. The good news is that the internet has begun to reinvigorate the picture story. I believe, too, that the new electronic reading devices will allow even more opportunities for multiple image stories. I am very excited about the future.

Vera Spein hangs salmon to dry at her fish camp near Kethluk, Alaska

CO - Why are you attracted to “traditions” photography?

CJM - I have always been attracted to visual history and anthropology.

Alaska is a candy store of such things with the original people of the land still directly connected to traditions that are thousands of years old. In some cases, the photographs I produce are virtually unchanged from those that could have been made a hundred years ago. You just don’t find these images anywhere else in America

CO - Why Alaska?

CJM - I decided I was moving to Alaska when I was 11 years old. I couldn’t convince my family to move, however, and I didn’t actually get here until immediately after college. And, except for my two years in Washington, D.C., I have been here since. Alaska is an exciting and ever changing place; I love it here.

feel comfortable and the best images are attainable once permission is granted and they forget about me.

CO - Any future photography projects?...

CJM - I am working on a big project titled “The Alaskans”, featuring 20 years of portraits from all geographic regions of Alaska. The exhibit is scheduled for the Anchorage Museum in 2013 and will include a new major book.

Vera Spein cuts willow bows to be used in the process of drying salmon at fish camp near Kwethluk, Alaska

CO - How do you proceed when you photograph people in their own environment? Do you establish a friendship relation between you and the subject or you are just trying to catch the raw emotion and behavior using candid photography?

CJM - Whenever and wherever I photograph, I try to ask permission before I shoot. Communication between my subject and me may be only a simple hand gesture and a nod, but the photography does not begin until permission is granted. I think it is important that my subjects

Subsistence berry picking, Kwethluk, Alaska

Subsistence berry picking, Kwethluk, Alaska

Subsistence caribou hunt near the village of Kwethluk, Alaska

Yup’ik subsistence moose hunters speed along the Kwethluk River

Subsistence hunter, Henry Spein searches for moose along the Kuskokwim River

Spring subsistence duck hunting near the village of Kwethluk, Alaska

Š Peter

Korniss

www.webdesign.hu/pkorniss

Peter Korniss Interview

CO – Hello Mr Korniss and thank you for the opportunity of this interview.

The quote in the beginning of your book “Attachment” actually best sums this entire edition on “Traditions” – “To preserve a way of life that will soon disappear!” Why this title?

PK – Editing is always the most important part of making a book. I had already decided at the very beginning that this book shouldn’t only be a collection of my best pictures – it should tell a story too. I wanted the book to tell what was important to me. I edited according to this concept: chapter by chapter – and if it was necessary even good pictures were left out. Of course I have always kept my favorite ones.

PK – I chose this title because I wanted to emphasize that I am attached to what I have photographed for so many decades. I am attached to the subject as a photographer, I am attached to the people I have met during those years and I am attached to the culture of these people.

Easter 1970

CO – As a photographer, do you use to take on the role of a historian? In other words, do you plan to freeze certain moments in time, so that others see them as they were?

Dancing couples 1967

CO – In this book you cover more than 40 years of history and traditions.

How did you decide what to show and what to leave out of the book’s content?

PK – I never considered myself a historian, neither an ethnographer. I have always taken the position of a photographer. I am convinced that – beside many other possibilities – photography has a unique chance and maybe duty: to preserve what we see in front of the camera. I think by its very nature photography preserves what is passing, disappearing.

Time and photography are inseparable linked. The moment the shutter is

released is the moment of farewell. Already, the picture shows what was, CO – Do you think your photography projects apriori or you decide what the photograph preserves its imprint. they will become after you start them?

PK – When I start a project I always have a vague idea in my mind but because I am usually working for a long time on a project, the idea can change a bit as I get involved deeper in the work. I think sensitivity and openness are important so the project can become richer.

In the spinning room 1992

CO – How do you see the concept of traditions? Is it something like a set of rituals that people struggle to follow, or more like something that defines us?

Nativity players 1971 PK – I don’t think as you put it, “it is a set of rituals people struggle to follow”. I think traditions are vital in culture. Traditions give shape to our lives. Traditions are very important for a society – and not only in rural CO – Most of your images are in black and white? Do you prefer them like this? Are they more powerful than in colors? areas, in urban life traditions are also important.

CO – In your opinion, are there “good” traditions and “bad” traditions?

Where do we draw the line?

PK – I don’t think I can answer this question. It would take a long essay.

PK – I was brought up in the black/white period of photography. For being a professional I am working a lot in color but black/white is still my mother-tongue. Plus I think I can express myself better and more punctually in black/white.

CO – Can (or should) photography bring a change to the world? Photography as a factor of social change…

PK – I hope you know that in the last century many people seriously believed they can make the world better. There were many photographers too who also believed the same. Unfortunately in this century the world has become less optimistic and people have become more skeptical. And so has become photographers too. Photographers are just part of the society.

CO – What is the message you (want to) send with your photographs?

PK – The traditional peasant world offered me the possibility to visualize human relationships. That world was rich in traditions and traditions offered me forms that expressed human relationships very clearly. My message has always been the importance of these relationships because I think they are endangered in our time.

Wedding dance 1970

CO - “To preserve a way of life that will soon disappear!

As a photographer I couldn’t have found a finer task for myself.” (Attachment, Peter Korniss) You seem to have clearly found your calling. It is obvious in your photographs, in your projects, in your books. Is this something that all photographers should strive for? Find their calling…

New Years Eve Ball 1971

PK - I think good photography is always personal so a photographer has

t o find a project that suits to his/her personality, character, experience and possibilities. That’s the best way to be true to ourselves and to be able to express what we think, feel and find important.

Man fooling at wedding 1974

Carnival scene 1969

Singing boys 1967

Flirting couple 1975

Mourning 1970

Sunday after the service 1973

Š Stefan Nielsen www.stilfoto.dk

more important role?

Stefan Nielsen Interview

CO - When and why did you start making photography?

SN - Ideas and imagination is the key element – but of course equipment plays a major role too. Ideas are no good if you haven’t got the equipment to carry them out.

SN - I got my first camera when I was 6 and got hooked on photography for real in my early teens – sot it’s been around 35 years now.

CO - Is photography a job for you or just a beautiful hobby?

CO - What’s your opinion on using image editing software? Is it a good thing, or is it an obstacle for many photographers in getting the great image straight on their camera?

SN - Image editing is as important today as it was in the days of film SN - It’s both – I have my own 1-man photography business doing and darkroom. Back then you didn’t get the picture straight out of the portraits, weddings, products etc. and I still enjoy photography as a camera - and that’s still the case. hobby as well.

CO - Tell us a little about your favorite subject to photograph.

CO - How important is the equipment that you use? Is it the most important thing in taking the perfect image, or your ideas and imagination play a SN - I really don’t have any favorite subjects – I believe you can find great

images in almost everything. I do enjoy shooting architecture though.

I find it interesting to find interesting lines and shapes in my everyday surroundings.

CO - What do you consider to be the main attraction in the Venice carnival?

CO - Why are you attracted by traditions photography?

SN - I find it very rewarding to create interesting pictures without a fancy studio setup and just use what’s naturally there.

CO - Traditions photography implies photojournalism and art, how do you manage to combine this in one image?

SN - The important thing is being at the right place at the right time – and that’s not always possible to plan. Sometimes it happens and sometimes (more often) it just doesn’t. Patience is the key element I guess. And when you get a picture where everything falls in place it just feels great.

SN - To be able to photograph all these people in their wonderful costumes with the beautiful city of Venice as a backdrop is every photographer’s dream come true. To me carnival time is the best time of year in Venice.

CO - When you are photographing the carnival do you tell your models to pose for you or you are just waiting for the moment when they look the most natural and than press the shutter?

SN - Both actually. Again timing is the key element. I can’t say which option I prefer.

CO - Any important future projects?

SN - I’m going on a trip to India and Nepal this fall. Hopefully this trip will result in an exhibition when I get back. I’m really looking forward to this

as it will be my first trip to Asia and I have great expectations.

Š Diego Goldberg

CO – Has this project brought much publicity and the public’s attention?

Diego Goldberg Interview

CO - How did you decide to begin this project?

DG - My mother in law wanted a portrait both from Susy and me for her bedroom. The next year I decided to repeat them to see how we had changed. It then took off and we could never stop.

CO - How long do you intend to continue this project?

DG - Until I’m gone. Nicolas, my eldest son is a photographer also and I’m pretty sure he’ll go on with the project.

CO - How do you children feel about the project?

DG - They love it! Every June 17th when we get together for the pics, it’s a festive occasion. The complicated part is that the one that’s posing has to maintain a straight face in spite of everybody else making fun of him.

CO - Why this name – “The Arrow of Time”?

DG - Because it’s the best metaphor.

CO - What camera do you use? Has it changed over the years?

DG - Nikons. Black and white film. But since a couple of years also on digital (D70 - D200 - D300 and now D 700) CO - Do you take the photographs in the same place?

DG - Yes, always at home.

DG - It was published in many places: New York Times Magazine, Esquire, The Independant, and many others. In 1998, the project was awarded the Gold Medal at the Society of Publications Design Annual Awards competition and the Distinguished Achievement Award at the 1998 Art Directors Club of New York annual contest.

Beyond this new and ingenious idea, the “Arrow of Time” photography project is very important because of the the link it creates between the past and the future, the family connections that it strengthens and, last but not least, the habit that turned into a tradition that gathers the entire family on June 17th each year, to capture a unique moment in time. A moment that grows, and gets better and more interesting with each passing year.

Š Ursula Becker www.uschi-becker.de

Ursula Becker Interview

CO - How did you end up photographing in Romania? Any relatives or origins there?

CO - What stroke you the most while getting involved in this (project)?

UB - For me it was like a time travel. It was a copy of my childhood in the 60’s.

CO - How do you see the concept of traditions, as a photographer?

UB - A Romanian emigrant who lives in the same village as I do introduced me to the subject.

UB - The tradition of a paper print will disappear, and change into multimedia.

CO - How long (in time) was this photographic project?

CO - Is photography able to capture traditions and send the message to UB - About 2 weeks. others?

CO - How did the people you photograph perceive you?

UB - They were happy to speak to someone, because some were old and have a lot of time.

CO - What was your main reason for doing this?

UB - I was wondering how free they spoke about racist subjects.

CO - What was your intention with this project?

UB - A dying community with lordly ethnic self confidence should be trapped in a documentary.

CO - Is it easier to communicate with images, or with words? Or is better a combination of both?

UB - I think that a strong image doesn’t need any text.

CO - Do you prepare a lot before beginning such a project?

UB - It depends, but in this case not.

UB - Of course, a picture is time testified. This moment will never come back.

CO - Any future projects?

UB - Yes, Pakistan between stratocracy, extremism and democratize, in October 2010.

Traditions worldwide

The last saxons in Romania

The Transylvanian Saxons settled here in the 12th century, begun by the Germans colonization of the country by King Géza II of Hungary (1141–1162). For much of their history, they held a privileged status with the Hungarian nobles and Szeklers of Transylvania.

They settled in a land that was rich with natural beauty and bounty They were drawn to the land because of its promise for a good life. They thrived here forming a strong community of farmers, artisans and merchants.

Viscri, Romania

They have survived here, living as Old World Germans, adhering to a simple life around family, work and prayer.

Church, Romania

The Transylvanian Saxon population has decreased since World War II. Because of mass emigrations – primarily to Germany – very few remain in Romania. Children left their parents behind to tend to the Once numbering some 200,000, today, the Saxons in Romania number around 5,000. In some villages, there are fewer than 10 elder Saxons. villages and their traditional ways.

What’s left is a small community that, locked in a time capsule and isolated

from the rest of the world, feels like they don’t have the responsibility of what happened during the war. Many still hold onto the sentiment of a pro-Nazi past.

This is a look into the lives of some of the remaining few who depend on their neighbors and their memories to get through the days.

Pray and work....

The Rev. Johannes Helman is the only member of his family who stayed in Keisd: His brother and father left for a better life in Germany. He was upset with them for leaving—he believes they gave up their identity in search for a better life and more money.”

But, he said, “I forgive them.”

Keisd, Romania

I asked Rev. Helman to write something for me why he did not leave, and what he thinks about the situation of the last Saxons. What’s the message, I asked, that he can give me that I can carry.

Was the end of an epoch the beginning of another?

Was God’s judgment over this land his offer of mercy?

Jesus Christus in Aeternum!

Johannes Helman Mai 2009

Father Helmann has eight villages to serve. In May 2009, he conducted a service in this church, the first that had been held in a year and a half. About 10 people came from all over. He collected them by bus, and some local gypsies from the village came, too.

They are the only three left who speak German. Some parts of the liturgy was in Romanian and German, but the sermon was in German.

Let the sorrows [stay] outside Bring the luck inside.

You are born here, You are home here.

After the service, I asked the women if I could take their picture near the tree. They asked how they should pose and I suggested they act how would if they were young. They choose to clasp hands around the tree.

Michael, 63, a regardless Nazi wrote:

My attitude in the present and above all in the time before the war. As I see it the time of National Socialism was a good one. Nowadays there is such confusion that no one understands, no one…

Nowadays it’s all about money, not about faith in God and culture. There won’t ever be another country as beautiful and wonderful as Germany, not anywhere in the world.

He lives together with his son, 6 years old. His wife immigrated to Germany.

He lives alone on the ground floor of a three-bedroom house with his dog, Bobby. His wife died years ago, and the children went to Germany when they were grown. His neighbor brings him cigarettes every day.

Hans, a retired shoemaker, has lived his whole life here. The clock on the wall is set to Romanian time; he wears a watch that is set to German time, one hour earlier. He watches German television, and he also speaks fluent Romanian.

I told him I’d like to make a portrait and asked him to pick his favourite spot in the house, and he said the bed. The linens were soiled. The cat delivered her kittens in his bed just a few days before.

It is a typical Saxon house in the way that it’s ordered, even down to the flowers—columbine and another old-fashioned flower—is the same as it was 40 years ago in Germany. It’s a fashion that still stayed with them all these years, and it’s something that reflects their thinking and their behavior. The Saxons have never given up their heritage as part of the German elite.

This is how I found the Saxon houses. They were in proper order. I guessed and I knew if I knocked on the door that I would find a Saxon still living here. It’s where the manager of the nursing home and her husband live.

As with the others, I asked him to write why he stayed in Romania.

He tried, making only a few words a time, but in the end, he forgot how to write.

He crumpled his paper after a few attempts.

It was as I expected. Everything on the inside is as orderly as the outside. They were happy to speak German, and they were all happy to speak about their lives. They were not open, but they were not unfriendly.

She was a former teacher, and had just finished giving a neighbor’s boy some lessons in German.

I asked if they would write a little note about why they didn’t leave and go to Germany like all the others do, or to write something about their situation—whatever they want. I asked them to express a little of

their life or their feelings.

She wanted to be the one to write because she was the teacher, but he said “I want to write my own statement.” He was very interested in writing this and making his point of view clear. She gave his statement to me like a secret—she had not seen his paper.

Her husband wrote: Why I didn’t leave my native land Transylvania.

1. Because I feel myself spiritually bound both to the rural area and to the people.

2. Because I am convinced that every inhabitant of the earth is assigned a given task when he comes to life. Constantly longing for strangers and continuously looking round for changes is the nature of an adventurer. It seemed to me unfair and humiliating to have my well-being be improved by others, in our case by German people. Everyone should do one’s best and aspire to ennobling oneself and one’s own environment where a higher wisdom has been found. Always taking without giving something in exchange causes a general chaos in the end.

3. I didn’t want to risk giving up my own identity.

She wrote down the national hymn of Translyvania. I was surprised, but understood that after the war, no German would write their hymn now. They have no guilt after the war—and in this case we are Romanians.

It is hard to read because it is very old-fashioned German.

Our hymn Translyvania sweet homeland, Our [precious] fatherland, We greet you in your beauty, and around all your sons there should be a belt of harmony.

Nursing home, Viscri, Romania

I met this woman in the nursing home. She was very emotional.

Most of the time she touched me and she did not want me to leave. She wanted someone to cuddle—I don’t know for sure, but I think she had a

form of dementia. My visit was too short to figure out what it was about.

She said her children were in Germany and they don’t visit her.

They only write a birthday and Easter cards.

She showed me letters and a card that said, “Congratulations for your 80th birthday. We wish you pleasant health and we would like to see you soon.” and There was really nothing personal.

It was not common for her to have a visitor, and it was too much for her nerves. She started to cry and then she asked if I would come to visit her again. I went two days later and she was the same. She was a little captured in this thought that no one came to visit her.

It’s a German home but it’s still Romanian, so there is not the same kind of care that the Germans expect. When I told her I had to leave, she asked if I would come next year but she did not know how long that was—when was next year or next week. I told her I would come again but I didn’t know when that would be.

Nursing home, Viscri, Romania

This is perhaps the last Saxon child, born to a Saxon woman in her early 40s. The baby is about 18 months old. No body knows where the father is—not even the mother. The mom, she was little strange—I don’t know what kind of sickness she has, but she can’t care for the child herself, so she lives in the elderly home.

In a normal community, you have homes for everybody for every age. In Translyvania, it’s just the Saxons and they old so it’s the only kind

of home she could go to.

The elderly people take care of the baby. They say “that’s our sunshine.” The baby is of normal intelligence, but is a little bit behind— probably because she is the only child.

I think the picture expresses the current situation of the gypsies moving into the Saxon neighborhoods.

This young girl seems almost to be saying “Now it’s the time for us and we’re like regular people who live here. We’re not the underdogs any more.”

She could not speak German so I could not talk much to her, but her self-confidence was clear. Her family occupies one of the Saxon houses that was abandoned. The owners left the house—but I don’t know the circumstances.

The liveliness of the children is a sharp contrast to the old, tired lives in the village. The new history is layered over the old history. These old houses are infused with new life as the gypsies move in and build communities.

I saw this woman in the elderly home, but I knew nothing about her. It was not possible to speak to her. She was not clear, not sharp anymore.

The only reason I took the photo was her hair; I saw it and thought “wow, that’s cool.”

I found out there was a funeral on this day, but I came too late. I was not allowed to take pictures of the funeral, so I’m in the house of the person who died, and this was the only picture I could get.

It was someone old and there was no close family. The community buries them: This is the way here. It’s the same as in Germany. Even if no one would know you and you died here, you would have a funeral of at least 30 people.

Photographs: Ursula Becker Text: Lana Bortolot

On the afternoon of Good Friday we traveled to Enna in central Sicily, where the rites of Holy Week are heavily influenced by the Spanish Passion & Faith – Easter in Sicily during the period when they controlled Sicily (15th to 17th centuries).

This can be seen in the distinctive hooded costumes the Brotherhoods

Holy Week began for me on Holy Thursday morning at the church wear here. The quiet, solemn procession led by thousands of men wearing of Santa Maria Maggiore in Ispica, a small town in south-eastern Sicily. capes of different colours is in stark contrast to the joyful and passionate With great shouts the parishioners led by the ‘Fazzoletti Rossi’ (“The Red events in the other towns we visited.

Scarves” - the Brotherhood of Santa Maria Maggiore) moved the statue of ‘U Patri a Culonna’ (“Christ tied at the Column”) out of its niche into the main area of the church where young and old alike queued to pay homage to the statue. Later in the day, after evening mass, the ‘Fazzoletti Rossi’ carried ‘U Patri a Culonna’ through the streets of Ispica, leading a brass band and other parishioners. The people of the town lined the streets to pay respect to the procession which paused at various points while fireworks were lit and the parade and festivities continued well into the night.

Good Friday night in Barrafranca, whirling through the streets, engulfed in the melee of believers vying to be one of the bearers of the statue of ‘U Trunu’ (“The Triumph”) (in contrast to the brotherhoods who control the processions in other towns, in Barrafranca anyone can be one of the bearers). In the middle of the crowd I tripped over a kerb and found myself on the road. Almost immediately people around me pulled me to my feet and the mass of people continued moving, their passion and faith infectious, intoxicating to me. Curious locals, unaccustomed to foreigners, asked Diego, our guide, whether I was enjoying the festivities

– the wide smile on my face required no answer.

Easter Sunday morning, we arrived in Scicli in time for the start of ‘Festa del Gioia’ (“Festival of Joy”). The statue of the Resurrected Christ was brought out of the church of Santa Maria La Nova at lunchtime and again before midnight, the men of the brotherhoods carried it around the town shouting ‘Gioia!’ increasing their speed with every circuit of the square that they completed, stopping periodically to spin terrifyingly around with the statue. Finally, the procession ended in the early hours of Easter Monday outside Santa Maria La Nova where the men spin the statue round and round in a frenzy, barely missing the onlookers crowded around. Again and again, they spun, stopping to bring in fresh shoulders until all were exhausted.

Later on Monday morning, I wandered back to the church where the statue of the Resurrected Christ now rested quietly on its stand, surrounded by trampled flowers, and I reflected on an unforgettable experience, the passion and faith of Easter in Sicily.

photographs & text : Nick Yoon (www.nickyoon.com)

Although it goes way back in time, this celebration is officially dated in 1948, initiated by Ioan Sabău, the village priest at that moment.

Traditions. The Easter People They also decided that, every year, all the villagers that turned 60, to be celebrated as sons and daughters of the Vinerea, and to bring the

Thursday. Early morning. It looks like a beautiful, sunny day. A Easter in the church. Also, they are the ones to contribute to renovating pleasant wind gust shows signs that it won’t be awfully hot. What else a particular symbol of the village: one year they repair the roof of a could you ask from a nice spring day? Besides, it’s a holiday! Every year, building, the next year the help building a fountain… And this way they in the Thursday before the Easter, in a village called Vinerea (near Cugir, mark the event.

Alba), it’s the celebration of the Easter People.

In this particular day, all the Easter people wake up early in the morning, dress up for a holiday and head for one of the villager’s place.

Because this is where takes place the religious celebration that makes holy the bread, the wine, the barrels, the candles and everything needed for the procession. And then, the priests, the villagers and their guests, all march towards the church.

And the same road that for some is simply a walk from one house to the village church, for the villagers of Vinerea becomes so much more.

It becomes a leap in time. On the same path they’ve been for thousands of times, through rain and cold, snow and fog, to the village church. It’s the recall of this incredible journey in life, begun 60 years ago.

The road passes along old houses, where several generations of villagers sit and watch as the suite passes by. Some are curious, some are appreciative of those that are celebrated today. The road walks along the old walls, very Saxon like, with tenths of colors, blending in with the houses and forming two worlds. The one behind the wall, very intimate, belonging to the family, and the public one, belonging to the village, lying between the left and right walls. The road meanders parallel to the river that cools the kids every summer, when they hide away from the scorching sun. It passes near the cultural and administrative centre of the village, known as that place at the crossroads, where the road is wide enough for a carriage to turn. And it finally arrives at the religious centre, where the church is.

More than 50 years ago, on the same road, these villagers took

their first stept in the universe that was opening up to them. They were going to school. In larger families, brothers took turns to go to school.

That is, if they could go‌ Because they had lots of chores. And during the winter, some children waited for their brothers to return from school so that they could take the only pair of shoes that many families could afford. And you could see all these on their faces, although many many years have passed.

Here and there thought, a smile betrays more not only cold that any road we might choose in life is better that none. And they have memories, but also pleasant memories. Once in a while, you can catch their own lives to prove that. a blinking of an eye, a discreet look and the candid gesture that brings one back to that smell of ripe quince in grandma’ courtyard, or the apple pie that covered the entire village during holidays. They remember the most important moments in the village life. The Birth, the Wedding, the Funeral. They even remember the names of all those that passed through such moments. Because here, the Universe is marked by such moments.

It takes them as milestones in time and space.

In fact, the purpose of this celebration is to remember. The moments spent in the village heart, for good or for worse. The decisions they took, the decisions they didn’t take, the decisions they ought to have taken.

And they all have that smile, showing that they know something others will only find in years from now. Or never...

And that is the fact that life has to be lived and not planned. And

photographs & text : Sebastian Vaida

Coal workers - “Bocşarii“

“Bocşărit” is the Romanian term for the production of char – a variety of charcoal obtained from wood. It is an ancient craft that was mainly practiced in woodland regions. In our country today, this trade is still found in a few areas at the foot of the mountains, on the interior curvature of the Carpathians, in counties as Harghita, Covasna, Sibiu, and Alba. However, the best of the trade are definitely those in Harghita, of Szekler descent. This profession is handed down from father to son, but the areas they work in are influenced by economic factors, such as the price of wood.

Currently, the largest number of coal depots can be found in the Tarnavelor Plateau, south of Transylvania, hidden among the hills, close to streams, but far from villages, as the law requires.

The craft seems to be kept alive by the high demand for char, not only on the internal market, but also on the external one. The reasons are that it has a large variety of uses – for cooking, as industrial or car fuel, in metallurgy, medicin, art, horticulture, tobacco industry, as a component of purification filters, or of gun powder.

Life at the coal depot is one of hardship. It takes place in a toxic environment all day, every day, because the production process needs constant surveillance, almost all year round, with the only exception of very cold winter days. As a consequence, living conditions and nutrition are very poor.

Nonetheless, the people of this profession are friendly and welcoming, finding the time to open their hearts to occasional visitors, who happen to stumble into those isolated places, far, far from the madding crowd!

The Ironmongery

Considered one of the oldest trades, ironmongery is still a way of life for some Romanian rural communities, south of Transylvania. It is a tradition blending the archaic with the modern, producing hybrid forms of artistry. In agricultural communities that still use rudimentary tools alongside mechanized production equipments, ironmongers are seen as indispensable and have a special role and social statute.

Learning ironmongery was until recently a family business, where sons would inherit from their fathers the secrets of producing an entire inventory of objects used by the community, not only at home, but also in agriculture. The commercial opportunities offered by the profession have been long neglected by these communities. However, with the rebirth of traditional crafts and demand for artistry within the European Union today, it could very well become a form of survival. Victims of both the industrialization of iron items production and of unfair trade, ironmongers are inventing a forced adaptation in order to be able to continue practicing this occupation that has become a way of life for many.

photographs & text : Sorin OniĹ&#x;or (www.sorinonisor.ro)

Photography projects

“Keeping Traditions Through Music” Anthony Copping – Last Voices Project

I have always been fascinated with culture, but reading about Michael Rockefeller’s adventures in New Guinea really lit a fire within me. I began my career as a music producer, but my thirst for culture and travel was always just beneath the surface.

During a trip to Fiji, I met some fascinating local performers and was utterly captivated by their unique harmonies. These led into the most beautiful lullabies I had ever heard. I instantly fell in love with these people. They live and feel every moment of their songs. To them music is a way of communicating, it is an integral part of their day-to-day existence. This means that their songs are sung differently each time, but that all performances have huge cultural relevance. This fluidity is in stark contrast to Western music that I had worked with, and, for me, this gave the Fijian music heart and soul. I loved it.

Something clicked in my head that surely there is no better way to explore culture than through music? Much to my surprise, when I returned to London I could find no trace of these wonderful Fijian lullabies. I desperately wanted to let other people feel what I had experienced - and so began Last Voices.

One of the hottest topics of our time is the generational shift in beliefs, traditions and morals, all of which have a direct bearing on culture.

Technological advances mean we are living in a world that is getting smaller by the second. This shrinkage is leading to a bland monoculture, which seems to be expanding exponentially at the expense of cultural diversity. If we do not take proactive steps to preserve it, we risk losing up to 85% of global knowledge in music within a single generation. This is a treasure chest of cultural knowledge built up over millennia. Songs tell stories about history, about beliefs, about culture from which they originate. They are part of the human story and help us understand what we are. These songs have passed down through the generations,

helping cultures to evolve while acting as anchor points with the past.

Without traditional music we lose that nexus with our origins, our ability to communicate is reduced, history dies and with it, knowledge.

Luckily, I am not the only one who shares this zeal to preserve our cultural inheritance. I have discovered there is a huge community of people who instinctively empathise with threatened cultures and who are just as passionate as me to preserve them. This is increasingly the case as international commercial expansion touches us all. We are all on the same page, working towards the same goal. To date Last Voices has produced 8 music albums as well as a major TV series with National Geographic Channel, which has been broadcast in over 110 countries.

In every case we have made it our highest priority that reimbursements should flow to local communities and that local opportunities should be created so that people with whom we work can continue time honoured traditions and ways of living.

When we released our first CD, we took copies back to the Pacific islands whose people had made them possible. As you can imagine,

everybody was fascinated with the outcome. The elders in particular pointed out to us that access to the music on CD created both a new interest and a sense of pride from local youth who had become transfixed

by Western music on radios and who had abandoned traditional voices.

We continually seek ways to move the project forward and the company has spent the last few years focusing on Asia and planning 2011 for Africa. I prefer an instinctual approach. We don’t want to have a predetermined narrow focus; we want to be open to all. We never know what we are going to find.

I am not a great fan of being a participant observer, learning how to throw a spear, hunting with the tribe or learning how to play their instruments. My personal experience to some degree is irrelevant, so I try to take on more of a spectator’s role. I look for the rationale and knowledge behind a song, but I decline to get involved. I relate to the meaning of the performance through the words and actions of the performers rather than trying to join in with something of which I am not part. To keep the experience pure and true to the culture it is best, I

believe, to take that step backward.

One of the most difficult aspects of recording rare musical traditions is presenting the music in a way to which Western audience can relate.

To indigenous people, their music is totally familiar. It has immediate relevance it is part of their DNA. The need to cross cultural boundaries is by far the most challenging aspect of our project. To give you an example of what I mean, in the Pacific there are few conventional instruments, and music tends to be performed with drums and voices only. However in Western society we are accustomed to music with guitars, pianos and other instruments. Because we are used to receiving music in a particular format it can often be hard at first to appreciate fully the beauty of music that derives from a different cultural starting point.

I was never interested in simply producing archival recordings that do not invigorate and activate the debate on the future of culture. I look for ways to integrate the past and present to create something new where they can coexist. I have also always tried to promote inter cultural dialogue as I believe it is a major factor that underpins cultural sustainability. To

reflect this some musical pieces contain up to 7 different languages.

Naturally this approach is not a perfect science and to create a balance I have also always tried to ensure that access is given to the original field recordings for those interested in the purity of the performance. As cultural diversity erodes in our increasingly homogeneous world, I often came across villages in remote locations where only a few elders know traditional songs (and sometimes a single person), and quite often just a few bars at most. The re-engineering and relearning of these precious pieces in the field and helping local youth re-connect with their ancestry has been one of the most rewarding experiences of the whole project.

“When you buy a song, you make a voyage.� That is what we are all about. Making people aware of traditions and culture and their value to us all.

At the end of the day, as is so often the case, much comes down to education, to making people aware and to communicating why preservation of threatened cultures is not only worthwhile but necessary.

This argument is often hard to get across in the cacophony of nearly 7 billion people struggling to survive in a modern world with modern

demands. The new generation is all about computer games and the latest technology. The ability to deliver instantly leads to a demand for instant gratification. Books and publications about remote places are few and far between and can seem of little relevance when set against the pressure of modern living. Last Voices is, though, trying to educate the next generation to have more of a global perspective and a greater understanding of different cultures. I think we are succeeding in a small way but hopefully it will create a big ripple and, maybe, even a wave of interest in the global fight for cultural sustainability.

© Anthony Copping – Last Voices Project (www.lastvoices.com)

northern peoples beliefs — a link between the living world and the supreme world. Such beliefs still exist in present days. even today, in the The Edge of the World. Remote Lands Photoproject north of Chukotka and Kamchatka, local winter clothes are made from deer skins, and herdsmen’s winter shoes — ‘torbasa’ — are sawn from the

The work on the project has been running for the two last years. same skins.

Geographical location — the north-east of Russia. Territories — the In the Far North, reindeer and people are linked together north-east of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the north-east of the Chukotka unbreakable, the former living for the latter. People eat reindeer’s meat, Peninsula. This is a story of the indigenous peoples who have inhabited but kill only what they need to feed. Chukchi herdsmen say that today these lands — Chukchi, Evens, Koryaks, Eskimos — reindeer herdsmen, deer are their life style. Furthermore, they say that only the tundra can fishermen and sea mammals hunters. cure the people...

Kamchatka. Nomads.

For thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of the North of Russia — Chukchi, Evens, Koryaks — have bred reindeer. In the extreme climatic conditions, deer-breeding was, for these people, the only way to survive and practically the only source of food in the tundra — away from the coast. At the same time, reindeer were — accordingly to the

Fish.

The second main nourishing product is still red fish — the salmon.

In the northeastern parts of Kamchatka, local people catch it during the short northern summer — for themselves and for their dogs. Dried fish is called here ‘ukola’. Fishing is a job for the inhabitants of the shore lands and the lands along the large river — Achay-Vayam. Previously,

they caught fish just for themselves. Nowadays, they catch it for sale as well. And with every year there is less and less fish in the river. At the river it is prohibited to split the land and argue — to avoid fights. As people told me, it is unusual to make bad things to someone, because they think the evil is passed down to the next generation.

Chukotka. Sea mammals shooting (whale and walrus).

Sea mammals hunting began around 2 to 4 thousand years ago.

A hunter told me that there was a time when Chukchi forgot how to hunt whales. For a long period of time, only whaling ships hunted whales.

They brought the whales to the shore and the Chukchi only butchered the carcasses. But the time has come for the Chukchi to take the weapons back in their hands and to become once again hunters.

Today it became harder to hunt whales — people get them using American guns delivered as a humanitarian assistance — darting guns.

There are practically no charges for guns. People save the charges for a hunting on a big Greenlandian whales which pass these waters in deep

autumn. Gray whales people shoot with hand-made metal charges.

Though, whale hunting with a such weapon is complicated, because only a precise hit gives the guarantee of a fast hunt ending.

..The whales attacked their boat twice — first time, the wounded whale dove down under them and stroke the boat bottom with its head.

Chukchi threw up his hands and showed how hunters flew out from the boat. Next time, the hunter said, I only wet my head but did not fall out of the boat — it did not turn over. Now, the hunter added, it is fearfully to go out to sea. But he is going on to hunt. He needs to feed his family and himself.

At past there was a tradition — sea mammals were caught during the hunt had shared between all local people — accordingly to demands.

It was probably the only way to survive for the Chukchi and Eskimos in the extreme conditions of the north and the endless cold. Nowadays, the tradition has preserved on the shore. Everyone can come to the coast and cut off his part of the common catch.

“If you close your eyes and just listen, it feels like you are on an ceremony in its original meaning, because they managed to save and absolutely different planet. Open the eyes — and you are still there...” protect their reindeer.

Centuries have passed over these lands, yet in the tundra, among mountains and passes, it seems nothing has changed. The same way that reindeer wander from place to place, their herdsmen — deer people — follow them.

The Chukchi funeral

This funeral tradition — burning a dead person on a pile of wood made of dry cedar — has preserved on the north-eastern seashore of the Kamchatka Peninsula among the two ancient native people — Koryaks and Chukchi. It is mandatory to dress a dead person in a clothing made up of reindeer’s skins — kukhlianka, which must be sawn with the skins of reindeer belonging to the dead person. Unfortunately, today there are almost no reindeer left on the north-east of Kamchatka, in Koryak region.

Accordingly, the features of the Koryak funeral ceremony have changed too. So nowadays, the Chukchi are the only people who preserved this

Š Andrei Shapran - The Edge of the World. Remote Lands Photoproject (www.andreyshapran.com)

Congratulations to the winners of “Traditions“ photography contest!

1-st Place Adrian Popa

... and thanks to everyone else who took part in this contest

3-rd Place Matei Bacanu

2-nd Place

Simona Grigorescu