How should Romania be represented today, 30 years after the revolution? What realities, and also what perspectives can this region hold? And which photographers can best address these questions?

The choice of the five Magnum photographers in the Romanias project, made by the EIDOS Foundation with my assistance, was not limited to those with intimate knowledge of the country, but aims instead for diversity in approaches. Indeed, Alec Soth, Bieke Depoorter and Newsha Tavakolian – had never previously been to Romania.

Despite the difference in methods and styles, as well as in subjects and interests, the authors of these projects share a vision of Romania that is summarized in the project’s pluralized title: Romanias. For it is difficult today to speak of a single Romania. Several countries and several realities seem to exist, or rather to coexist, simultaneously. What did these photographers discover in Romania, what do they project in their outlook on the country, and how does their vision resonate with that of Cristian Movilă, the Romanian photographer and founder of EIDOS who himself contributed a photographic essay to the book?

Further, what will we discover in 30 years by looking back upon these photographic essays which in their own ways explore the Romania of today? These works, cutting and crossing through society, offer not only a transversal image of Romania, they are also strewn with latent signs that might only reveal themselves to the viewer in the future.