Visual anthropology workshop, an introduction

We live surrounded by images – personal, historical, social – that profoundly influence the way we think about the world and ourselves. But what does it mean to really look? What do we see in a photograph? And most importantly – what do we project onto it, consciously or unconsciously?

This visual anthropology workshop is an invitation to reflection, creation and dialogue through images. We will work with personal photographs and archival images, real or unknown, to explore the connections between memory, identity and visual narrative.

During the two days, each participant will:

• learn to "read" an image critically and empathetically;

• build a personal photographic mini-narrative;

• discover how images can tell stories about oneself, others, and the world we live in.

The workshop creates a safe space for visual exploration, where personal experience is the starting point, and the image – a tool for self-knowledge and authentic encounter with others.

The workshop is intended for people interested in image, story, memory and identity, regardless of professional or artistic experience. It can be especially useful for people who work with people, such as educators, cultural workers; artists, photographers, people working in humanities; people in a process of reflection or reconnecting with their own biography.

Ana-Cristina Irian is a research-based artist, researcher and curator, active in the field of collections, photographic archives and multimedia projects, with studies in sociology (Trento and Regensburg), visual anthropology (Bucharest and Perugia) and a PhD in visual arts from the National University of Arts in Bucharest. Her artistic practice, guided by the motto No one left behind , emphasizes objects of memory and integrates photographic materials into contemporary artworks. She has participated with works in over 50 exhibitions in Romania and abroad and is a member of the Union of Visual Artists of Romania and the European platform Futures. Cristina has been involved in projects such as Dacia 50 – an ethnography of the Dacia car at 50 years old , Oltenia Fountains – a mapping of community fountains in southern Romania , Arhive poVestite – recovery and promotion of private photographic archives , Fragmentum , Heretheylived , #mili-eu. Ileana, Mr. B's grandmother , Debara , Sacoșa Est-Vest – Libertate.Corp.Resistance , EERIE, The Titans – research based art . She published the object work STRATA / B (Omnia Photo, 2020), and the visual experiments made between 2016–2020 became two object books: The seven poems of Cristina Irian and The eighth poem of Cristina Irian , made in collaboration with the artist Mircea Bochiș and included in the European collection Versopolis – Technological Innovations in Literature. She is the author of the volumes Photographic Collections and Archives Today, in the Digital World (2022) and Space Production and the Social Life of Street Art (2024), published by Tritonic Publishing House. In 2024, she was a finalist at the LensCulture Art Photography Awards. Her most recent project, The Titans and the Vanishing Green, is presented at the Chester Photo Festival 2025.

Other details:

The workshop has two sessions:

• Saturday, June 28, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

• Sunday, June 29, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM

The workshop does not require technical photography knowledge, being built as a participatory and emotional experience, in which each contribution has its own value.