Cătălin D. Constantin journeyed through the Balkans over several years, accompanied by close friends, to meticulously recreate, using the same angles and framing, the photographs taken by the Manakia brothers more than a century ago—images now preserved in the archives of Bucharest.
Just before and after 1900, Milton and Ianaki Manakia captured scenes of Vlach villages in Epirus and Macedonia. Back then, the names of the villages were different, the roads had a different appearance, and the region was still part of the Ottoman Empire. My own contemporary visual project has not had the singular goal of pinpointing these exact locations and replicating the photographs from the same spots. Far more fascinating were the stories that emerged during this journey, sometimes tinged with a hint of adventure… How much, one wonders, have the deep Balkans changed throughout the past century?
CĂTĂLIN D. CONSTANTIN is a book publisher and anthropologist. He teaches Anthropology at the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, where he also served as Vice Dean from 2016 to 2024.
His first PhD thesis, published in 2013, focused on everyday life in Romanian cities at the beginning of the 20th century. His second PhD, completed in 2014, provided a cultural and anthropological analysis of urban squares in European cities and was awarded by the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism. This marked the first time the University of Architecture in Bucharest granted a PhD with the highest distinction to a non-architect.
Cătălin D. Constantin has edited numerous literary collections and photography books dedicated to cultural heritage. For the books he edits, he often creates both the text and the graphic design, considering their combination essential. Windows from Bucharest and Their Stories (2015) sold out in just three weeks and reached first place in book sales in Romania.
He conducts anthropological field research in the Pindus Mountains of Greece and the Caucasus region.
He has received the Medal of Honor from KulturForum Europa, a German foundation established by Vice-Chancellor Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
Since 2016, he has been coordinating a series of weekly museum education conferences at Suțu Palace, part of the Bucharest City Museum.
Additionally, he has organized multiple photography exhibitions in Romania, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Portugal.