Cîrlig and Raica, former photojournalists now dedicated to long-term documentary projects, live alongside their subjects: leaving Bucharest behind in October 2012, they moved for a year to the small gold-mining town of Brad in western Romania. They also spent time in Petrila, a coal-mining town in the foothills of the Carpathians. Their photos document the fragility of an identity forged by both man’s creative and destructive energies, his exploitation of the natural abundance of the earth. “The industrial and natural landscapes blend together in mining areas,” says Cirlig, “creating an eerie atmosphere that, after a while, started to feel like home”.