Drum Bun is a photographic project devoted to the Romanian landscape as seen from the perspective of the road – from inside a moving car.

The photographs were taken during the early years of my stay in Romania, primarily in 2010 and 2011. Captured during numerous journeys, the images were made spontaneously, without the possibility of choosing the frame – constrained by speed, direction of travel, and the car window.

The title, Drum Bun – a common Romanian farewell meaning “safe journey” – becomes a symbol of hospitality embedded in motion, and at the same time, a metaphor for selective access: the road welcomes, but only in the direction it dictates. Space opens conditionally – along the infrastructure that defines not only mobility but also visibility.

The Romania depicted in these photographs is not a representation of the whole, but a fragmentary, peripheral, and ephemeral space – appearing and vanishing, never fully attainable. Drum Bun is not a story of travel, but of the conditions of seeing: how the architecture of mobility shapes what can be perceived, and what inevitably remains unseen. This is not an image of whole Romania and due to restrains mentioned above, can't be treated as such.

The decision to publish this project was inspired by the reflections of well known Polish philosopher and mountaineer Marek Głogoczowski, a distant relative of mine – we share a great-great-grandfather – whom I had the good fortune to meet shortly before his death in November 2023. In his book The Ethos of Mindlessness, Głogoczowski critiques the civilizational mechanisms that lead to unreflective action and consumerism. His analysis resonates deeply with my project, revealing how road infrastructure shapes spatial perception and conditions our experience of the world. My photographs can be seen as a visual manifestation of what Głogoczowski calls the “ethos of mindlessness” – a space organized in ways that limit reflection and conscious experience.

In the context of Drum bun, it is also worth noting how the road – though seemingly open and accessible – may in fact function as a “space of exclusion.” It becomes a selective barrier that determines what and how we see, while keeping other realities out of reach. The photographs uncover these mechanisms, inviting reflection on how infrastructure influences our perception of space and the condition of contemporary mobility.

- How was "Drum bun" born, did you have a clear picture of what you wanted to do from the beginning, or is it more like a collection of visual oddities that slowly took form into this project?

Last two years I was traveling around Romania because of  two main reasons - assignments and my travels back to Poland. I realized that I do not want to loose my time, I want to shoot for myself while I have opportunity to travel so much.
I just started to take photos through the window of my car. I realized that taking photographs like this can give a bigger picture of Romania than photographing only the capital city. Bucuresti is much different than other parts of Romania. Photographing in the city doesn’t give whole idea about Romania.
I would prefer to call this project and essay. It’s my personal view.

- Is there any implied critique in your pictures of the Romanian landscape along the roads?

Of course. I do not meet so many Romanian people who find those photos interesting.
I hear a lot of critique. Romanians do not like how i see Romania. They find my photographs not pretty... They say that I photograph only bad side of Romania and they think I do not like this country.  
I see it differently. I love Romania and I find those landscapes very beautiful and romantic.
Do you know Mark Power’s project about Poland called“Sound of two songs”? You can’t call his photographs pretty.  Power didn’t photograph pretty things and landscapes … but I just love those photos. I am not offended by them.

- At first sight you pictures look somehow trivial as we are tired of the visual madness we see everyday around us. After looking at a couple of them, you begin to understand and start asking for more. It seams that some things can only be seen though the eyes of a foreigner. Does that help you?

Yes, it does.. It did. I am quite a bit of time in Romania and I think I am getting used to things around me... I am waiting forward when it will get warmer and I will be able to hit the road again.
My next trip is planned for middle of April. I can not wait. I hope I didn’t loose “foreigner” perspective.

- Some might say that taking pictures form the car window is just a form of cowardliness for a photographer, that there is too much distance from the subject. In some pictures you even include parts of the car, was that to underline the traveler's perspective?

I was always very close to my subject and this time I wanted to do something else. I do not stop my car to take photos, so those photographs are not very well composed. It’s just impression of a person driving car around Romania... as you said.. it’s traveler’s perspective.

- Do you think there is a "culture of the road", are they a mirror of our society?

In each place around word there is a culture of the road. People build infrastructure along the roads... so yes, I think it is.

- When I first saw this project, I had this flashback with Robert Frank and his famous project "The Americans" and I pictured him driving across the U.S. and sometimes snapping pictures from his car window. Did you have any inspiration for this body of work?

After I started my project, I started to search for photographers who did similar projects before me. I found Robert Frank’s project and I have to say that I like his book a lot.
It was not inspiration to start but for sure gave me some confidence that it’s a way to go.

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