Chattels built without lord

Author's presentation text

My name is Szigeti Vajk István, I was born on the 12th of december 1989. I started my studies at Ady Endre primary school in Csíkszereda in 1996. I knew already in primary school that I am particularly interested in arts. So, I went after the 8th class to the Nagy Istvan Art Highschool in Csíkszereda. Being an Art School, I met several arts, that I followed with interest and cultivated duly to my knowledges. Beside architecture my attention was turned toward free-handed drawing and photography as well. As I had to spend most of my time with drawing, I learnt to know photography by myself. I absorbed all techniques that way. After I finished highschool I was admitted to architecture at the Spiru Haret University in Bucharest. Because of all studying and concentrating on how to learn all new facts about this specialization, I was not able to attend many hours by taking photographs, but I supplied the lost time mostly in summer holidays. Harghita County Council started that time its programme for saving our heritage and invited many tenders for photographers regarding maintaining local architectural values. This was the moment when my personal view was born, namely that I look at the relationship between humans and their surroundings, which can be as well natural as build one. I got my college certification in architecture in 2014 and moved home from Bucharest and toned on getting a job close to my specialization. In march 2015 I got a certificate at an accredited photographer training organized by the Cultural Center of Harghita County. Between february and july 2015 I worked an a auxiliary photo reporter for the Csíki Hírlap local newspaper. I had this mandate for only 6 months because in the meantime I got a job in my specialization at an architecture office named Larix Studio in Gheorgheni. The period between 2015/2020 was from the photographer point of view very successful. Beside working at architectural segments, I participated at several tenders and camps about photography. I took part at many inland, but as well international photo exposures which took part in the following cities: Budapest, Bukarest, Nagyvárad, Kolozsvár, Nagybánya, Szatmárnémeti, Marosvásárhely, Nagyszeben, Brassó, Sepsiszentgyörgy, Csíkszereda, Csík peripheral villages. I laid myself out to embrace, tell the stories of people that live in Szeklerland, while attending to the surrounding, how do they live and how does this determnine them. These two professions- namely photographier and architect - are the ones that I want to work with in the future too, and I am looking to all possibilities for combining the beauties of both.Project „Chattels built without lord”:One of the most important chattels built in Romania has been left without its lord as the result of Saxons leaving the country. Emigration attained its highest level after the second world war, as in the time of Ceausescu's regime the country got money for letting the Saxons leave. As a paradox most people left after 1989, the year when the two partied Germany got united and Hans Dietrich Genscher Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs invited all germans that lived outer the bounds to come home. According to a rough calculation, there are approximatively 14.000 Saxons living in the country, that is 10% of the initial number. The fact that they left Romania brought dramatic consequences on all chattels built by them. Many houses and churches have been abandoned. As a result of these happenings, an intensive process of degradation is continuously charging these buildings: infiltration, broken windows that let animals get is the rooms, vandalized buildings a.s.o. There are estimations according to which more than half of Saxon churches-that belong to the Evangelic Church- are in different stages of deterioration. It is not just about built heritage, but about the traditions and habits of the community of Saxons. It is very sad that if we do not have the responsibility to preserve the built heritage and to protect the Saxon’s traditions and habits, aour country will lose a priceless national value. These images represent the actual situation of the isolated villages near Mediaș, Sibiu county, village Șmig, village named Cincula, Brașov county, And last one Ațel village, Sibiu county.