Witness: Calin Ilea
About This Exhibition:
The Romanian community in Chicago is one of the largest Romanian communities in the United States. While the 2000 census found 11,871 Romanian immigrants and 25,050 residents of Romanian ancestry in the Chicago metropolitan region, community leaders estimated between 50,000 and 65,000 Romanians in the Chicago area. The life and the experience of the Romanian immigrants in the United States has rarely been subject of an extensive scholarly study or photographic project. The purpose of this project is to add to the understanding about the Romanian immigrant life in Chicago based on an extended photo documentary.
When I first visited an old friend of mine in Chicago over the Spring break of 2009 I did not know that it would turn to be the starting point of this project. I celebrated Easter with a small group of his friends and for the first time I tried to explore a story about someone in the Romanian community. It was the priest Pavel Gheorghe, who later on proved to be a very important source of information and help in my travels between Columbia, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois. With the purpose of documenting a slice of life of the Romanian community in Chicago I went back several times and over the summer of 2010 I completed most of the work needed for this project.
The stories I witnessed are about family, work, celebration and hope of a better future. In a way they represent The American Dream. I had my own preconceptions about The American Dream and what I would find in this community. Some of them were right but I had many wonderful surprises that challenged me. I tried to verify my work using photo-elicitation and this proved to be a good tool not just to gather information but also for editing.
I learned a lot about the Romanian community, I made a lot of friends that I hope to have the chance to revisit and I have produced a body of work that it is representative for the Romanian immigrant experience. All this was possible with the help and support I have received from David Rees, Photojournalism chair of the Missouri School of Journalism and Missouri Photo Workshop Co-director, my fiancée Domnita Georgescu, my family, all the wonderful professors and students that have shaped my way of work and life and last but not least all the subjects that have shared their life and memories with me. (source: http://www.calinilea.com/chicago/introduction/ with permission)
Calin Ilea
Calin Ilea is a freelance photographer based in Cluj Napoca, Romania. Ilea has worked with several Romanian newspapers and magazines such as Pro Sport, Evenimentul Zilei, Capital, Unica but also photo news agencies like Mediafax Foto. Ilea holds a BA degree in journalism from Babes Bolya Unversity in Cluj -Napoca, Romania and MA degree in Photojournalism with a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. (source http://www.calinilea.com/about/ with permission)
All images are under copyright : Calin Ilea