BeautifulMag Cover Story | Children of the Revolution

THE 20TH CENTURY IS SCARRED BY TWO MAJOR EVENTS - WORLD WAR I AND WORLD WAR II – AND SOCIAL, ECONOMICAL AND POLITICAL SITUATIONS THAT WERE RELATED TO THESE WARS. WORLD WAR I CHANGED THE FACE OF EUROPE FOREVER. BORDERS SHIFTED AND REGIMES COLLAPSED. IN 1917 THE RUSSIAN TSARIST AUTOCRACY WAS DISMANTLED WHICH OPENED THE DOOR FOR A REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALS MOVEMENT NAMED COMMUNISM. RUSSIA BECAME THE SOVIET UNION AND CLOSED ITSELF FROM THE WESTERN PART OF THE WORLD.

Only 21 years after the end of WWI, a second global war started and once again, this war would change the face of the earth. When WWII came to an end in 1945, it left many countries in ruins, easy to be picked up by the bigger, more powerful nations. And that is exactly what happened with Romania. On March 6 1945, after mass demonstrations and  political pressure from neighboring USSR, a new pro-Soviet government was installed which eventually led to the abdication of King Michael of Romania and the declaration of the People’s Republic of Romania, under occupation of the Soviet Union in 1947.

Exactly 40 years later, the anti-communist riot in Braşov, announced the imminent fall of communism in Romania, which eventually came to happen after the Romanian Revolution in December 1989. Romania installed a new political system and was able to shake itself free from the yoke of the USSR. Romania came out of the smoke a scarred country. Not only by the many revolutionary battles, but also due to its political system. Now 24 years later, the country is healed, but some of those scars are still there. Because Romania has inherited many industrial buildings from the Communist regime that are still there. Physical ruins as silent witnesses of a time gone by already long enough for a whole new generation to grow up.

Adrian Udea is 25 years old and so he was born just before the fall of communist Romania. Too young to remember that period, he did grow up in the aftermath and among the remains of that historical period. A man of his own time, Adrian has his mind set upon a career in international modeling. Born in the Romanian city of Mangalia, Adrian currently lives in Bucharest which he uses as his work base and from where he travels to wherever his modeling work brings him. For his latest shoot with Mircius Aecrim he didn’t have to travel that far though. Mircius shot Adrian from fashion brand Timoteo in Romania.

As mentioned before, you can still find many old factory buildings in Romania that were build during the Communist regime. Some of them are still occupied but most of them are ruins. Forgotten remnants of a time gone by. Mircius Aecrim is quite attracted to the imposing architecture of these industrial sites but access to them is most of the time forbidden. But the revolutionary spirit is still present in Romanian character. As well in Mircius. And so, even if sites are not accessible, he tends to find a way to get what he wants. And so, together with Adrian, Mircius Aecrim found this old abandoned factory which he thought to be perfect as backdrop for his second collaboration with the young Romanian model.

Surrounded by silence but conscious of the fact they trespassed forbidden property, Mircius and Adrian created a series of portraits that are not only breath taking, but also almost symbolic in showing how beauty can rise from the remnants of an ugly past. The surprise of finding puddles of fresh water after a heavy rainfall and the silent reflection it brought only accentuates that spirit. The result is amazing and once again proof that no matter how dark things can be, in time everything passes and beauty rises. –BM-

MIRCIUS AECRIM | BEAUTIFULMAG

Comments

[Jeff]

Very well done!Bravo!

[iama{GAY}tekeeper]

Well presented!

[Rodney Braude]

one very beautiful man!!