Documenting 20 Years of Changing Life in Rural Romania

Here’s a short article by my employer, Loyola Marymount University.

https://cfanews.lmu.edu/kathleen-mclaughlin-romania/

Maramures: 20 Years Later

I gave a talk at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant last week about traditions and change.

Matusa exhibition at Mogosoaia

My dear Matusa, the aunt of my host family in Maramures, Romania, passed away in September. I made a memorial to her in the Watch Tower at the Mogosoaia Palace, outside Bucharest, this summer.

Appalachians/Carpathians: Researching, Documenting, and Preserving Highland Traditions

I had the pleasure in participating at this conference in Brasov, Romania. The event was hosted by Transylvania University. My presentation "Sezatoare" was about my documentation of the Maramures region in northern Romania. 

"Camase," Sarbi, Maramures, 1999/2015
Color image 2015, Black and White image 1999
Each photograph is printed and hand-stitched by me with woolen thread. The thread is from an unraveled apron often seen on old women, called a zadii. 

FLOW Magazine, Holland

My photographs "Girls from Sarbi" have been published in a beautiful Dutch magazine! Thank you to the Anzenberger Agency in Vienna.

National Geographic Best of the World 2015

Thank you Nat Geo for including one of my images of my work in Maramures! 

Honghe, Yunnan, China

I've been invited to exhibit 20 of my photographs from Maramures at the Honghe Photography Festival. I'll be attending the event from March 16-20th. I look forward to being in China again!

Xiang Sha Wan, Inner Mongolia, Photography Festival, 2011

National Geographic Photo of the Day!

My photo "Churchgoers, Maramures, Romania," was chosen for today's photo.

What Makes This a Photo of the Day? This glimpse of a young girl’s direct gaze as she is being ushered protectively into the church by her elders is the gift of a moment perfectly captured. —Alexa Keefe, Photo of the Day editor

Award from the ICR

Thanks to the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, I spent 10 days in the village Sarbi, re-photographing people and places of the Casau Valley in Maramures, as well as begin a new project with a local photographer. 

1999/2013

I photographed Maria in 1999 and met her husband two weeks before his death. On a lovely October day in 2013, I reminded her of that day and she smiled. 

Featured on National Geo's blog PROOF

Serendipity in Maramures

The nostalgic and timeless quality of McLaughlin’s images initially caught my eye. Her intimate, black-and-white portraits and landscapes showed hardworking families from another land and another time, tending to giant hay bales in traditional dress. - Ben Fitch

Featured on Photoweenie

"the classiest fine arts photography website ever"

Your Shot Spotlight on National Geographic

Nat'l Geo's Spotlight feature asks Your Shot members some questions to learn more about what inspires their photography, the processes they use to make images, and the stories behind their favorite pictures.

Exhibition and Lecture at ASTRA

I was invited to speak in the Master Series as part of the Documentary Film Lecture Series in October. This was in Sibiu, Romania at the ASTRA International Film Festival. I had a terrific time and met many new friends. My lecture focused on my own projects and projects of well-know photographers. I gave 7 tips on a successful documentary photography project.

The Indie Photobook Library at Gallery Carte Blanche

It was a terrific opening and weekend for those interested in photography books. My book, The Color of Hay: The Peasants of  M​aramures, was showcased, along with 70 other books. I participated in a panel discussion with Eric W Carroll and Todd Hido.

​Participating in the PhotoBook Club meeting.

Returning to Romania

I can't believe it's been 5 years since I've been to Romania. It was in 2007 and I was invited to be one of the godmothers for Ileana. She was 10 years old when we first arrived, and now she is married with a 3 year old son. ​

This October I will be exhibiting my work from The Color of Hay at the Astra International Film Festival in Sibiu, Transylvania.​ While there I'll give lectures at the Academy of Art in Bucharest, the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, and the University of Art in Cluj. I'll finish my trip at the village Sarbi where I lived in 1999 with the Berci family.

My last visit in 2007. Sarbi, Maramures.​