"BUMBATA"

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION BY COSMIN BUMBUŢ

Within EMOP Berlin - European Month of Photography 2016 

Vernissage with Dj Set: 30. september, 7 pm

In 2005 Cosmin Bumbuţ started photographing at Aiud Penitentiary, Romania. He spent 4 years taking pictures there and witnessing during this time all sorts of happy, sad and absurd events. He tried to get close to the inmates and photograph them without exaggeration, without making them look like monsters or victims, but exactly the way they were - mockers, ostentatious, nostalgic or God-fearing.

Some of these pictures are portraying Pricu, a mobster arrested for human trafficking. In 2008, when he heard Pricu had a real chance to get out on parole, Cosmin went more often to Aiud to take pictures of his last days there.

During his last visit at Aiud, he found in the office of Social Reintegration staff a file labeled “Literary works of prisoners” and took pictures of them. He also photographed the prison magazine called “Light from the dark”, which at that time was handwritten and stapled in one hard copy. He then decided that mixing their texts with his photos was just the right kind of narrative he needed for this project.

“Bumbata” means “penitentiary” in prisoner's slang.

Program: Tues–Fri 2–6 pm / Free admission

Additional information can be found at: www.rki-berlin.de and www.emop-berlin.eu