2015–2017

The History of a City

"The History of a City" explores an alternative visual history of Bucharest through places associated with events that attracted significant media attention between 1989 and the present. Rather than focusing on major political or historical milestones, the project examines events that, although rarely considered historically significant, have contributed to shaping the city's collective memory and the experiences of its inhabitants. By photographing the locations where these events took place, Ghercă investigates the relationship between urban space, media narratives, and collective memory. The project questions how seemingly ordinary places become associated with particular events and how these associations persist in the public consciousness, even when no visible traces remain. Each photograph was taken using photographic film that had expired in the same year as the event associated with the location. To achieve this, Ghercă searched for and purchased expired film stocks on eBay, carefully matching their expiration dates to the years of the events he documented. This deliberate choice introduces an additional temporal dimension to the project, establishing a material connection between the photographic medium and the historical moment it seeks to evoke. Through this approach, *The History of a City* proposes an alternative understanding of Bucharest's recent history, one constructed not through official historical narratives but through the events, memories, and stories that have shaped the city's everyday life. 15 color and b&w pictures, 6x7cm medium format negative