DRAGOȘ LUMPAN

He has held exhibitions in prominent art institutions like the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Romania, at the Romanian Peasant Museum and at the Museum of Recent Art in Bucharest. Internationally, his work has been showcased in Turkey, Italy, the UK, Spain, Hungary, Austria, Luxembourg, and the USA. His photography has been recognized at prestigious venues, including the European Central Bank’s annual photography award exhibitions.

His early passion for photography began at the age of 14, when he developed his first photographs on film. This passion eventually expanded to cinematography, leading him to tell stories through both mediums, capturing people in their natural environments and the essence of their lives.

In the early 1990s, Dragoș Lumpan documented Romania’s everyday life, later anonymizing faces in his “Blurred Times” photography series to respect privacy and provoke thoughts on urban identity, while his “Arhiva foto 1992-1993” project digitized over 3,500 negatives to create a visual archive of Romania’s social, political, and cultural events, reflecting the country’s transformation over three decades.

His acclaimed project “The Last Transhumance” stands as a testament to his dedication to documenting vanishing traditions. Begun in 2007, this project involved photographing and filming shepherds practicing transhumance across six countries: Romania, Turkey, Greece, Albania, Italy, and Wales. Over 15 years, Lumpan covered over 50,000 kilometers, capturing 100,000 photographs and 100 hours of film and audio recordings. This project highlights the ancient practice of moving livestock seasonally between pastures, portraying the dwindling number of shepherds who continue this way of life.

In addition to his work with transhumance, Lumpan has explored the lives of the inhabitants of the Danube Delta. His project “People from the Danube Delta” documents the daily lives and environments of the Delta’s residents, challenging the stereotypical view of the region’s people and focusing on their diverse roles beyond fishing. This work aligns with his broader interest in human stories and their interactions with their environments.

In film, Lumpan has directed and shot several documentaries, including “The Last Transhumance” and “Matache 2.0,” and served as the director of photography for the feature film “The Tank.” His diverse body of work continues to explore and document human experiences, cultural practices, and societal changes, making him a significant figure in contemporary photography and filmmaking.