Spaima Navigatorilor
Spaima Navigatorilor
Spaima
Navigatorilor
About the project
My grandfather traveled the world during Communist Romania and was surveilled for it. He left photographs. The state left a file. This website holds both - and asks whose story is true.
A website for an audio-visual installation about my grandfather, presented at Gala Absolvenților, UNATC, July 2026, alongside a short film in a noir-inspired room.
Project details
Role: Website design, editorial curation, content strategy
Tools: Framer, iMovie, Canva
Year: 2026
Type: Personal project - audio-visual installation
The challenge
What does it mean to inherit both photographs and official files?
My grandfather, Vasile Popa (1928-2005), was a chief electrician and nautical navigator who traveled the world during Communist Romania, and was surveilled for it. His Securitate file documents what the state thought of him. His own photographs document what he chose to remember. I had both, and I wanted to share them. The risk was presenting too much and losing the thread: so I prioritised redundancy over meaning. When the watched and the watcher both leave documents behind, whose story is true?
Project details
Role: Website design, editorial curation
Tools: Framer, iMovie, Canva
Year: 2026
Type: Personal project - audio-visual installation
The challenge
What does it mean to inherit both photographs and official files?
My grandfather, Vasile Popa (1928-2005), was a chief electrician and nautical navigator who traveled the world during Communist Romania, and was surveilled for it. His Securitate file documents what the state thought of him. His own photographs document what he chose to remember. I had both, and I wanted to share them. The risk was presenting too much and losing the thread: so I prioritised redundancy over meaning. When the watched and the watcher both leave documents behind, whose story is true?
Project details
Role: Website design, editorial curation, content strategy
Tools: Framer, iMovie, Canva
Year: 2026
Type: Personal project - audio-visual installation
The challenge
What does it mean to inherit both photographs and official files?
My grandfather, Vasile Popa (1928-2005), was a chief electrician and nautical navigator who traveled the world during Communist Romania, and was surveilled for it. His Securitate file documents what the state thought of him. His own photographs document what he chose to remember. I had both, and I wanted to share them. The risk was presenting too much and losing the thread: so I prioritised redundancy over meaning. When the watched and the watcher both leave documents behind, whose story is true?
The decision: what to show and how to say it
I chose to frame the material as a dossier rather than an exhibition. The logic was editorial: every element on the page had to earn its place by adding to the story, not just filling space. The tone follows the same principle: sparse and deliberate.
Visual language
The aesthetic references the Securitate file format: typewriter font, document structure, the visual grammar of surveillance and official record. It was a way of letting the archive speak in its own register, rather than translating it into something clean and contemporary. The noir aesthetic mirrors the shadowy bureaucracy that documented his voyages: Humphrey Bogart as both projection and childhood memory in the short film that will be projected on-site, the location being an office space similar to those in detective films.
Technical decisions
I built the booklet in Framer rather than using Canva. The main challenge was maintaining image quality and layout consistency across desktop and mobile, as archival material loses its weight at low resolution or in a collapsed layout. I solved this by treating each image as a primary element rather than decoration, sizing and positioning deliberately for both breakpoints. I have made two versions available on the homepage: Romanian & English, accommodating the content to different audiences.
The decision: what to show and how to say it
I chose to frame the material as a dossier rather than an exhibition. The logic was editorial: every element on the page had to earn its place by adding to the story, not just filling space. The tone follows the same principle: sparse and deliberate.
Visual language
The aesthetic references the Securitate file format: typewriter font, document structure, the visual grammar of surveillance and official record. It was a way of letting the archive speak in its own register, rather than translating it into something clean and contemporary. The noir aesthetic mirrors the shadowy bureaucracy that documented his voyages: Humphrey Bogart as both projection and childhood memory in the short film that will be projected on-site, the location being an office space similar to those in detective films.
Technical decisions
I built the booklet in Framer rather than using Canva. The main challenge was maintaining image quality and layout consistency across desktop and mobile, as archival material loses its weight at low resolution or in a collapsed layout. I solved this by treating each image as a primary element rather than decoration, sizing and positioning deliberately for both breakpoints. I have made two versions available on the homepage: Romanian & English, accommodating the content to different audiences.
