Tamas Dezso

Tamas Dezso (b.1978) is a documentary fine art photographer working on long-term projects focusing on the margins of society in Hungary, Romania and in other parts of Eastern Europe. He is currently living and working in Budapest. His work has been exhibited worldwide and has been published in TIME, The New York Times, National Geographic, GEO, The Sunday Times, Le Monde Magazine, Ojo de Pez, HotShoe and many others. Today we take a look at his project titled, Notes for an Epilogue.

Dump (near Aiud, West Romania), 2012

Dump (near Aiud, West Romania), 2012

Carpet Sellers (Pojorata, North Romania), 2012

Carpet Sellers (Pojorata, North Romania), 2012

Notes for an Epilogue

Spiritual tradition and physical heritage are simultaneously disintegrating in Romania. Time is beginning to undermine centuries-old traditions preserved in tiny villages, in communities of only a few houses, as well as the bastions of the communist era’s enforced industrialization, which became part and parcel of Romania’s recent history. Those living in the reservations of forgetting blend with nature, exhibiting a humility inherited through generations. Urged on by modernization, they are living out their last days in evident equality of closeness to nature and, helping time, they are diligently pulling down the absurd edifices of their environment. In the manner of termites, they carry away small pieces of immense concrete constructions on the rickety carts of poverty, pick through reinforced concrete frames of former factory monsters, power stations and furnaces, dismantling monuments of formerly enforced modernization which have corroded into a stage set. One year ago, I began photographing the scenes of a world irreversibly decaying, the transformation of a Balkan country surviving the region’s hardest dictatorship. When capturing the still recordable milieu I am examining the parallel of a general tendency and personal stories: as resilient humanity condensing into symbolic destinies takes shape in the face of mortality.

Abandoned Factory (near Hunedoara, West Romania), 2011

Abandoned Factory (near Hunedoara, West Romania), 2011

Metal Scrap Collector (near Hunedoara, West Romania), 2011

Metal Scrap Collector (near Hunedoara, West Romania), 2011

Hovels (near Moisei, North Romania), 2011

Hovels (near Moisei, North Romania), 2011

Victor (near Geamana, Central Romania), 2011

Victor (near Geamana, Central Romania), 2011

Anastasia (Livada, North West Romania), 2012

Anastasia (Livada, North West Romania), 2012

Sodium Factory (Ocna-Mures, Central Romania), 2012

Sodium Factory (Ocna-Mures, Central Romania), 2012

Railway Station (Hunedoara, West Romania), 2013

Railway Station (Hunedoara, West Romania), 2013

Costica (Muntele Mare, West Romania), 2012

Costica (Muntele Mare, West Romania), 2012

Near Calan (Calan, West Romania), 2011

Near Calan (Calan, West Romania), 2011

Ciprian, the Bear Dancer (Salatruc, East Romania), 2013

Ciprian, the Bear Dancer (Salatruc, East Romania), 2013

Tunnel (near Vidraru Dam, Central Romania), 2013

Tunnel (near Vidraru Dam, Central Romania), 2013

The Flooded Village of Geamana (Geamana, Central Romania), 2011

The Flooded Village of Geamana (Geamana, Central Romania), 2011

Sheep farm (Silvasu de Sus, West Romania), 2011

Sheep farm (Silvasu de Sus, West Romania), 2011

Choir (near Abrud, West Romania), 2012

Choir (near Abrud, West Romania), 2012

Tamas is currently working on the production of a book project (Notes for an Epilogue) with his partner, Eszter Szablyar, who is a writer. The book is planned to be published in 2014.

To view more of Tamas’ work, please visit his website.