Chiara Dazi: Moldova
© Chiara Dazi
Curatorial Statement
The Republic of Moldova is a country torn between its West and its East.
On 2 September 1990, after Chisinau had declared a shared Moldovan-Romanian linguistic and cultural identity, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (Transnistria) was proclaimed in the eastern part of the country. Violence escalated in the fall of 1990 and further intensified throughout early 1992. The Soviet Army entered the conflict on Transnistria side in its final stage, opening fire against Moldovan forces and killing about 700 people. Moldova has since then had no effective control or influence on Transnistrian authorities. A ceasefire agreement, signed on 21 July 1992, has held to the present day.
Those events made the country stuck in its Soviet past with all the pro-EU aspirations smothered by its unrecognized self-proclaimed separatist province.
Chiara Dazi is an Italian photographer based in Berlin and Chisinau. Chiara was born in the Italian Povalley, studied languages and received a degree in communication sciences at the University di Bologna with a thesis on German Ostalgie (nostalgia for the former GDR).
Chiara Dazi's work with its ethnographic quality ("an almost anthropological immersion", as the artist says) is a perfect illustration of the country's identity crisis. Dazi documents the archaic customs and traditions of the people, their squalid living conditions and pathetic attempts at "normal life".
This exhibition on VASA shows four series of the artist’s work: The Moldovan Derby; The Shepherd's Lift; Skački (Horse Races), and Stained.
© Igor Manko 2019