Until 22 December, the gallery of the Instituto Cultural Rumano in Madrid is hosting the photographic exhibition Timișoara Incógnito – the Romanian Revolution 1989, by Constantin Duma.
In the presence of the director of the Institute, Maria Pop, and Professor José Luis Orella Martínez, historian of the Contemporary Age, specialised in political thought in Spain and Central Europe, full professor at the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid, this event was held in collaboration with the Timișoara 2023-European Capital of Culture Association and under the auspices of the Romanian Embassy.
During the opening of the photographic exhibition, Professor José Luis Orella contextualised the importance of the Romanian Revolution of 1989.
Constantin Duma has been taking photographs for more than 50 years. Today he is a well-known photojournalist in Romania and abroad, being part of the cultural life of Timișoara. His passion, photography, made him part of historical events, such as the 1989 Revolution in Timișoara.
During the Revolution, he took his first photo on 17 December, when he was part of the convoy leaving for the Timișoara Student Complex. He approached a friend who had a camera and photographed what he saw from above. These were the first photographs taken by Constantin Duma. “Intense days followed, days of fear, days of death,” says the artist-photographer. Before my eyes ended up under a tank – the soldier had not seen her – the first collateral victim of the Revolution, a 50-year-old woman; she was simply crushed. I photographed where I could, when I could, I left the camera to my friends, I ran away…. We all ran away, like rabbits, I got a shotgun stretcher on my back too…. I know it was worth it. It wasn’t until a year after the Revolution that I exhibited those photos, in the window of the Palace Restaurant.”
