In the heart of Romania, during a period marked by political turmoil and social upheaval, a young architect named Andrei Pandele embarked on a mission to document the rapidly changing landscape of his home country. Through his lens, Pandele captured the essence of everyday life in Bucharest under the oppressive regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu during the 1970s and ’80s.
Andrei Pandele, initially trained as an architect, found himself drawn to photography as a means of preservation. With an architect’s eye for detail and structure, he could predict, though not precisely, the extent of Ceausescu’s destructive ambitions. Churches, historic buildings, and entire neighborhoods fell victim to the regime’s vision of modernization, leading Pandele to immortalize the Bucharest he cherished before it vanished.
Pandele’s efforts to document the architectural carnage resulted in approximately 30 interrogations during his first year and a half of shooting. Despite the personal risks, he persevered, driven by a conviction that the true tragedy lay not just in the destruction of physical structures but in the devastation of the lives of Romania’s 22 million inhabitants.
His photographs from this period provide an astonishingly intimate glimpse into the everyday lives of Bucharest’s residents. From long queues for necessities and crowded public transport to private moments of joy and community in a time of scarcity, Pandele’s work captures the full spectrum of human experience against the backdrop of a repressive regime.
