Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin - U.S. Scholar and Photographer to Romania

Field: Photography
Host Institution: University of Art and Design, Cluj-Napoca
Grant Date: 2002

The path to my Fulbright project, which documents the relationship of northern Romanian peasants to their land, customs, and each other over a complete year of four seasons, began with dance. In 1995 I was introduced to Romanian and Balkan folk dancing. The beauty of the rhythm and context of the dance transfixed me.

When I began my MFA in photography in 1997, I started to think clearly about what kind of projects I wanted to do. It is clear our modern world is continuing to speed up and people everywhere are losing touch with being connected to the land and familiar customs. Going somewhere to witness and experience an older way of life called to me. I realized I wanted to see what the dance folk songs were singing about.

Through research and word of mouth, I learned of the traditional life of the Maramures region in northern Romania. In 1999, before I received a Fulbright, I used personal savings to live a year there in the village of Sarbi, along with my husband Henry, with a peasant family. Their village had been untouched by collectivization in the 1950s, as well as the Ottomans and Romans in previous centuries. We were able to witness everyday peasants continuing their generations-long farming practices and folk customs, even as modernity began to encroach.

I fell in love with Romania during that year in Maramures, and I knew that I wanted to continue my photographic documentation.  That first year I focused on the deep rooted relationship peasants had to their land and village. During that year, I experienced modernity taking hold, such as the village road being paved, phones and cable TV installed in the village, and more and more imported goods at the market. I could see that change was going to happen fast, and I wanted to return to document this change.

In 2002, I returned to Romania on Fulbright to document these changes and teach two photography classes at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca.  Although I expected change, I was amazed when I travelled from the university to Maramures at how much had changed so quickly. There was an incredible increase in cars on the road, new stores or stores being renovated, tractors in the Maramures fields, and an increase in internet cafés and students with cell phones. My focus this time included photographing these changes I witnessed taking place around me in this rapid modernizing country. Instead of living in a village with no running water, phone, or bathroom, we lived in a relatively modern house in Cluj-Napoca.  By living in a university town and teaching photography at the University of Art, I explored the relationship of the urban dwellers and rural peoples that came into the town for shopping, market day, or other reasons.

Kathleen re-loading her medium format film camera sitting here with Vasile, age 74. Vasile is the subject of many images in Kathleen’s book The Color of Hay.

The contact with students, faculty and Fulbright staff helped broaden my lens on Romania. by allowing me to explore new regions and situations.  We traveled together throughout Romania to photograph folk customs, as well as interesting contrasts of village and urban life.  I wanted to give my students opportunities to learn from my approaches, while giving me their personal insights to their village or ethnic customs.  For example, I attended two festivals with my Hungarian students (at about 6.5% of the population, Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority in Romania).   I also brought a group of my students to the Maramures village where I lived in 1999 to give them an opportunity to photograph and visit this region, which they had not been to before.

As time has progressed, change is now becoming woven into the generations. In the house where we lived in Maramures, the parents were illiterate, but now their child has attended university.  All the children from the family across the street have left the village to live in cities.  Though peasants clearly desire this kind of change – a washing machine can actually save a grandma’s life if it keeps her from falling in the river while washing clothes – they also appreciate the efforts from Fulbright and others to help preserve something of the memories of their traditional lives.

Cover of The Color of Hay

Throughout my time in Romania, my focus remained primarily on the disappearing peasant traditions of the country. From the work from both years, I published the book, The Color of Hay: The Peasants of Maramures.

The Fulbright experience is always with me. It’s such a unique and special experience and one that I cherish. I keep in touch with Fulbrighters who were with me that year in Romania and network and collaborate with them. Currently I am putting together a traveling exhibition on Romania with Laurence Salzmann, a Fulbrighter to Romania form 1974. Recently, I donated folk objects and images to the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, which had a fabulous exhibit on Romanian folk art. The curator, Joyce Corbett, is also a fellow Fulbrighter.

I also keep in touch with the Romanian Fulbright Commission, my colleagues at the Art University, former students, and continue to make new connections through social networking. Time and again I find that the Fulbright connection opens doors to new possibilities.

Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin is a mother, photographer, and educator with an appetite for exploring the world. Wherever she goes, she brings a compassionate and curious lens backed by traditional film. For her efforts at capturing a disappearing world, she has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award, an IREX IARO Grant (National Endowment for the Humanities), and a Houston Center for Photography Fellowship for her work in Romania. Her images have appeared in PDN, Gastronomica, LensWork, Rangefinder, B&W Magazine, Black + WhitePhotography (UK), and The Times Saturday Magazine (UK). Her photographs have been exhibited both nationally in the United States and internationally and are in the permanent collections at the Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego, Western Virginia Museum of Art, Judah Magnes Museum, and the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.

Kathleen received her MFA in Photography from Virginia Commonwealth University. She currently is Adjunct Faculty at Loyola Marymount University and at the Academy of Art University San Francisco (online). Kathleen has been an active member of the Society for Photographic Education and was on the West regional board for four years.

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