Crina Sîrghii

My name is Crina Sîrghii, born in the Republic of Moldova. I live in Berlin for already three years, with the experience of living in different countries, Romania, Italy and lucky to graduate the faculty of “International Relations” in Germany. However, this article is not about me, but rather about the creative people from Moldova.

Around two years ago, my family faced a tragedy, we lost my brother. We were destroyed, emotionally, morally whatever you want to call it, it was terrible. More difficult was for me to get my mother from that loop, that life is meaningless, she was depressed. She could stay days without willing to do anything. Then after contacting a psychologist, I was advised to motivate her to return to crafting, sewing, because it was her hobby before. It was tough to make her start; however once she did I could not stop her. Her sustainable, hand-made towels very soon were desired by many people back in Moldova. This experience challenged me think of a project here in Germany, “Dowry Chest”, to give my mom motivation and at the same time include other crafters, painter or small businesses that are seeking for a bigger market.

Nowadays, it is called art-therapy; back in Moldova it has more a meaning “of keeping yourself busy with something”. I reflected a lot on this topic and researched about it, definitely I can tell that in my homeland people overcome their problems, through getting involved in something. In my project, I gathered women that during the maternity leave they started painting, because they were overwhelmed with the routine they were facing being at home. Another example, of a brave person is Rodica Costru, a lady that creates jewelry out of clay; she left her main job in sociology and recently got the title of Crafts Master back in Moldova. These are success stories of ambitious people from a country that is confronting a lot of changes, unstable economy and a high inflation rate.

Even though, there are a lot of talented people, who fight daily for their dreams; Moldova has a small market, which is not able to let them sell their products. The demand is too small than the supply we have. If at the moment, the European market is opening for our fruits, vegetables and animal products, which definitely is a great opportunity for Moldovan farmers, we as a country still need to realize our wines, small family businesses and make painters, craftsmen, designers known. This is the main objective of “Dowry Chest”, a project that takes small steps in making Moldovan traditions, brands and art items popular. I already had the experience to have several exhibitions of our hand sewed traditional costumes, that belong to the public associations “ Mândia Basarabiei” and “ Șezetoarea Basarabie”. Those costumes amazed the people living in Germany by their complexity and finesse.

Moreover, I have a list of brands and exhibitions that want to travel and be acknowledged, for instance “Soul of Moldova” recently presented, a treasure that speaks harder that anyone else about the Moldovan culture and traditions. Additionally, Moldova has a great soil and favorable weather for producing yearly around 500 thousand tons of grapes for winemaking (taken from the last statistics made in 2013). From which we conclude, that in the recent years, we have even more wineries opened, that are willing to export their products, such as: Romănești, Brănești, AlterEgo, Basavin, Sălcuța and many others. Personally, this also implies to create another image of Moldova, that many do not know about. I truly believe that this project will help also Moldovan tourism grow and create a stable ground for the artists, who starve for a broader horizons and audiences.

To sum it up, this idea and concept is ambitious enough to create headaches, but I truly believe that it is manageable and I can foresee its success in a year. The key is consistency, in finding galleries, locations and the right people, who are willing to support and help such a daring idea.

I encourage the readers of this article, please give it a search and let your curiosity find something about the longest wine celeries in Europe, the shirt “Ie” that belongs to the UNESCO patrimony. This all is from Moldovan people, that were born in a small country, but have a big caring heart.

contact: dowry.chest.md@gmail.com