Barcelona Residence, Scandinavian Residence, American Village, French Village, Soho Apartments, Mediterranean Residence, Oxford Gardens - these are the aspirational names of developments on the outskirts of Bucharest, the capital of one of the poorest countries in Europe.

Yet after almost 30 years since its Communist leadership fell, Romania still struggles to achieve a quality of life taken for granted by its partners in the European Union.

During 2016 and 2017, I focused on documenting the margins of Bucharest, where the city develops its own identity, free from a masterplan by the authorities. This periphery is a space of micro-universes, many crafted to perfection, but often isolated.

The neighbourhoods are rich in stories reminiscent of a fairytale - citizens cross frozen wastes searching for food, kill beasts in the wide open, herd sheep and goats, visit witches versed in spells and charms, and befriend strange creatures.

Many homes lack the necessary infrastructure to connect homes to the city. Houses are often built with no access to running water, electricity, asphalt roads or pavements. But residents have the same goal - to achieve a western standard of living.

Bucharest is a new city, and was only first mentioned as a settlement in the 15th Century. In 1862, it became the capital of a union of the Romanian-speaking principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which remained vassal states of the Ottoman Empire until full independence in 1877.

The city grew in the second half of the 19th century and boomed between the two world wars, when rich and eccentric art deco and modernist buildings emerged throughout its centre.

But the Communists destroyed much of the city’s neighbourhoods, and added a new layer of identikit concrete apartment blocks, which now dominate the cityscape.



