This is everyday Eastern Europe, in all its beauty and peculiarity
Image by @ingainjn
5 March 2020
Text:
Paula Erizanu
Filled with authenticity, spontaneity, and love for Eastern Europe’s unique idiosyncrasies, @everydayeasterneurope is a gift to both those interested in the region, and the people it represents.
Curated by multiple documentary photographers working in the region, the account celebrates and contextualises local staples without exoticising them.
From youthful ravers in Georgia to middle-aged men in Bulgarian spas, it gives followers a peak into Eastern Europe’s many varied joys.
Traces of religion, making a revival after long repressions under atheist socialist regimes, are also a consistent presence.
But perhaps the most valuable additions of the account are the moving moments of intimacy and tenacity it captures, such as the scene below, where workers in Romania’s Western town of Arad rescue their colleague from drowning in a freezing lake.
Although @everydayeasterneurope is mostly focused on portraiture, the account also features representative architecture, ranging from Ottoman-era bridges to brutalist Balkan monuments.
