Photographs & Text by Bob v Brunschot.

These photos were taken in the streets of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. Moldova has not been part of Russia since 1991, but there are still quite a few  “traces” of the Communist past to be seen, including the Brutalist architecture (architectural flow characterized by large blocky structures and the use of rough raw concrete called “ concrete brut”, with a focus on functionality with minimal decoration).

I regularly look for places in the world where I can travel to “report” on certain abuses as inequality, “wrong” distribution, abuse of power, environmental pollution & other “mechanisms” in the world that must “wring” and come into the light ( everything that comes to light becomes visible!) and get attention so that something may change / improve, this is probably a somewhat naïve pursuit but also a meaningful activity.

Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe and the inequality is clearly visible in the streets. People are difficult to approach, probably because of the language barrier, but also because of the (Russian domination) past, it seemed like they were very wary? I always try to get in touch with the one I have on the “grain” and ask permission but here this was often difficult / impossible, so I have regularly photographed people secretly from behind!

Chisinau is a city full of contrasts that do not appear clearly in the first instance, but if you take a good look they will become clearer and clearer! On the surface, it looks like a prosperous city with a lot of large and expensive cars in the streets, large shopping malls full of  “luxury" products, but also many (older) women in typical Eastern European clothing who trying to sell all kinds of homegrown products (fruit & vegetables), pieces of meat, walnuts, clothing, etc etc.. on the street, and this is probably 7 days a week from early morning until evening! There is a lot of street trading and this is most likely a form of survival? There are one or more drugstores /pharmacies in almost every street that also seem to be open almost 24 /7, and where (I suspect) pain killers and other “suppressive” drugs are probably mainly sold? 

The gardens and parks at the government buildings and other government institutions look optimally maintained, while there is almost no sidewalk without a hole in it. You also regularly see (inhabited) houses that you think are completely uninhabitable and worn out between other buildings that are in a good condition! There is much “beauty of ugliness” present in the streetscape, fortunately there is also quite a lot of greenery and a large park with ponds in it that is used a lot by the city residents.

Coincidentally, at this time (September 2025) the elections  are for the national political parties, and there is a great chance that a pro- Russian party will come to power! But according to the results, the pro-European and the already incumbent government won the elections so this is a windfall for most Moldovans!

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