Romanian Photographer Creates Memorial To The Victims Of Bucharest Nightclub Fire
“Every time I attempt to grasp what happened there, I fail miserably,” says Valeriu Catalineanu.
On October 30, Bucharest nightclub Colectiv went up in flames to a misuse of stage pyrotechnics. While 26 people died that night, a total of 60 people passed away in the weeks that followed from their burns. A further 151 people were injured. The tragedy triggered public outrage against the city's leaders, resulting in multiple demonstrations and the ultimate resignation of Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
Romanian photographer Valeriu Catalineanu, whose work has featured on The FADER, lost seven close friends to this tragic accident. He has created a poignant memorial to raise money for the victims' families, using a special film technique that takes a long time to develop. "Every time I attempt to grasp what happened there, I fail miserably," he explained in a statement on his Facebook page. "I am incapable of finding any reason to express and explain that event. It’s beyond me. These images are about us forgetting sad events all too fast, and about how our mind tries to protect itself from the obvious: the fact that we can fade away in a second, the fact that we can easily be forgotten." See the whole collection of Catalineanu's Colectiv Memorial images commissioned by Electronic Beats here.