The Fast East

photos and text by Andrei Lumpan

In the summer of 2018, 3 art students embarked on a 3 weeks road trip around the Black Sea.
More than 7000 kilometers towards East.
The purpose? There were several of them, the main being the attraction that all three of them have for The Orient.

Their expedition started from Bucharest and had a first stop in Kishinev – a very strange place, reminding me of childhood in Romania.

Kiev was their next stop, followed by Mar’ivka and the Ukraine border with Russia. Before crossing into Russia, the Ukrainian police insisted to receive 500 euros as a bribe (one of the police officers took one of the students, the driver, one hour back to Mar’ivka only so he can withdraw money from an ATM). Sometime after the incident, a journalist told them that in such situations the solution would have been to call the embassy. By the time they knew that the protagonists have already crossed the border and they were on their way to Kremenchuk. Further on their journey, they passed through Kharkiv, Rostov-on-Don, Anapa, and Essentuki. All these felt like time capsules, where life goes on but only within itself.

On their course to Makhachkala, adventurers crossed through Dagestan. In the past, this region has been heavily influenced by the conflict between the Islamic State and the Soviet Union. Still a very strict and militarised area today, our travelers often passed by armed soldiers, tanks, and fortified checkpoints.

On their way home, the students crossed Georgia, Turkey, and Bulgaria.
The overall feeling after this expedition was of being overwhelmed, especially because most of the time was spent in the car, racing on (mostly nonexistent) asphalt.

I have decided to select strictly images shot from the car, emotionally detached frames in motion.

Andrei Lumpan are 23 de ani, este născut și crescut în București. Momentan studiază design industrial abstract in Amsterdam. Fotografia și filmul au un rol important în dezvoltarea artei pe care o creează, fie că sunt create ca proiecte de sine stătătoare sau combinate cu alte forme artistice. Îl găsiți pe Andrei Lumpan la https://lumpan.nl/