KATHLEEN LARAIA MCLAUGHLIN: Transylvania Project

Watch Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin's KickStarter Video!
"The Color of Hay: The Peasants of Maramures"

Gheorghe, Mara, Maramures, 1999
Photograph (c) Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin

Maria, Sarbi, Maramures, 2003
Photograph (c) Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin

Northern Transylvania is the last bastion of subsistence peasant villages in Europe. It is an area so remote that the Romans never conquered them. Yet just two decades after the fall of communism, modernity is finally overcoming their centuries old traditions.

"In a single generation, the villages shown here have gone from illiterate poverty to cell phone towers. Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin's photographs capture both the traditions and the change of the first decade of the 21st century. Using a medium format camera with traditional film negatives, she pursues the mission of a documentary photographer by preserving a piece of fading history.

"Your contributions will allow us to make the final payment to the printer. Up to now, we have spent our money and the money of friends. This final amount will complete the long journey to publication."

Over 130 photos are displayed throughout 200 pages. Each image carries a caption, a location and a date. The book is organized into chapters on the seasons, the ceremonies, and the meaning of life. Throughout, there are essays, poems, proverbs, ghost stories and songs to add depth to the lives of these special villages." (...KickStarter Video)

Read The Interview with Aline Smithson on Lenscratch