Photography
The burning city
Project description
For 251 years, there is a continuous fire going on in Reșița. The steel mill is perhaps the most important activity for this city, since 1771. The fire that made the steel that was necessary for so much things, it was the heart of the city. Even nowadays, when there's not so much activity since 1989, the plant is still using that fire. During a documentation in 2021, i was able to see the process of taking scraps of metal, that through melting, have a new purpose, or simply said, how scraps of metal are recycled. It's important to conserve the history of this factory, especially now, when the industrial segment is decaying in Romania. The factory is still important for Reșița, it's providing jobs for the majority of citizens, and yet, it was the main thing that put Reșița on the map, as being the most industrial city in Romania. Even if the fire might stop someday, and the factory may be closing, it will forever go on in the memory of the residents, and perhaps, can still be seen in photographic archives.
Author's presentation text
Ioana Ciolea lives and works in her personal workshop in Alba Iulia, where she designs decorative glass objects, in the stained glass technique. A graduate of the Faculty of Photography at Unarte Bucharest, she uses analog photography before her student years. Recently, the analog technique is deepened, from developments to printing on photographic paper in the darkroom. The researched topics are nature, architecture and industrial elements.
