Maria Guțu

My work is a poetic quest for my roots, for a home with never-ending changing meanings. Homeland isn't only a place, person or event. When I was a child my parents went abroad to work, and I spent time with my grandparents.Then, because of my studies in Chisinau, I visited home so little that I wanted to spend more time documenting it, to live what I missed: home, family. Perhaps I wanted to resolve this sense of loss by documenting the place of my childhood, wanting to know more about this beautiful place with a wonderful nature from which people constantly leave.

The driving force behind Maria Gutu’s (b.1996) photography is an enduring interest in people, nature, and the place she lives in, the Republic of Moldova. The artist is interested in documentary photography, remote places, youth, notion of home and the relation between humans and the environment they live in. Mostly utilizing black and white medium format film, Maria examines the personal and universal exchanges found in contemporary portraits, yet, inspired by old portraits masters such as: August Sander, Diane Arbus, Rosalind Fox Solomon, Peter Hujar. The notion of temporality is central in her process documenting human connections and relationships as they morph over time. In 2022 she finished her studies at Docdocdoc School of Modern Photography, Saint Petersburg. In 2020 she finished her studies at the Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts in Chisinau, where she studied cinematography for 4 years. In 2018 she became one of 30 women photographers under 30 selected by Artpil. In 2019 she received a CDFD(Centre of Documentary Photography) grant in Bucharest, Romania. In 2020 she became a finalist of 2020 People Photography Award granted by by The Independent Photographer. From 2021 Maria is a member of WomenPhotograph. In 2022 she was shortlisted at Sony World Photography Awards, Open Competition: Portraiture. In recent years, Maria had various collective exhibitions in Romania, France and The United States.