Romania Part 2: Belonging(s) and Climbing Iris’s Family Tree

WHERE THE ROOTS BEGAN TO FORM

Metallic beetle, Bogdana farm

For the past several weeks, we’ve been chasing Iris’s family history down dusty, unpaved roads in the middle of endless fields and tiny towns with barefoot children, through sips of homemade visinata liquor and ciorba soup, and quiet sobs that bring sad stories of family hardship to an end. Watching Iris juggle her tape recorder in one hand while listening to stories of the past and sifting through old black-and-white photographs of relatives is impressive and touching. We feel lucky to experience it with her.

::::::::::BOGDANA, IRIS’S FATHER’S MOTHER’S FAMILY HOUSE::::::::::

This is the house where Iris’s grandmother Elena, the oldest of 7 siblings, was born and raised. It was Iris’s great-grandparents’ house. We went to visit Iris’s great aunt Doina (the youngest of the siblings) and her husband Mircea, who now live in the house and maintain the land and crops.

Mircea came out with a pitchfork in his hand one day and so Iris decided to recreate the famous painting American Gothic by Grant Wood. This will be one of the photos sewn into her project book.

It was a very peaceful and informative two days at their farm, full of home cooking, rest, walks around the laid-back town of Bogdana, and stories about family and life under the communist regime. The three of us learned a lot about what you could and couldn’t do under communism (this fact comes to mind: couples were forced to have at least 4 kids), the dramatic story of Romanian dictator Ceausescu’s failed flight out of the country and murder along with his wife right at the beginning of the 1989 revolution, and the fact that class and status played a large role in one’s ability to choose career path (some of Iris’s relatives were told not to try to become teachers or engineers because of their parents’ class (“chiaburi“)). We also learned how to grind corn!

::::::::::IASI, CITY OF ART IN HIDDEN CORNERS::::::::::

Staircase of the cathedral

Wall of the Three Hierarchies church, Iasi Palace

Cool Egyptianish griffin made of thousands of tiny objects, Iasi pub

Mystical paintings in the halls of Iasi’s Technical University

Iasi is where Iris’s father Constantin spent most of his childhood and where her grandmother Elena still lives. The second-largest city in Romania, there’s quite a lot going on, although it doesn’t have a big city feel (this is nice). Eastern European cities like Iasi continue to surprise us with the accessibility to wireless internet, something almost unheard of in Italy. Perhaps this is driven by the people’s desire to embrace change in politics and economy, internet being a vehicle for exchange of ideas. For ArtVenture, this is also a positive thing!

Amy and Luca in the clock tower of Iasi Palace

Here in Iasi, Iris has been bouncing back and forth from one relative to the next, trying to get material, photos, recordings, and stories for her project. We have had the pleasure to be hosted by her lovely grandmother Elena, who is quite a character and an endearing, strong woman. One night we flipped the roles and invited Bunica into the camper for an Italian-style dinner!

And here’s Iris with her grandmother (on the right) and great aunt, Lucretia:

Such love behind the eyes; what stories behind every crease and wrinkle. These women are pillars of strength.

~ by Amy and Luca on June 5, 2008.