Celebrations and Excursions

Celebrations and Pilgrimages in Europe

Martin Kulinna

Our world is rapidly losing its diversity. Multinational companies own inner cities and transform them into uniform zones of shopping and recreation. There’s hardly a major metropolis in which McDonald’s, Starbucks, Zara, Apple & co. don’t dominate the appearance of public squares and main streets. Individuals have long since succumbed to this equalizing dictate: we wear what the big fashion chains present in their stores, we drink what’s considered hip, and we dance to sounds created in the American hit laboratories. Martin Kulinna knows that there’s no stopping this march to monotony, yet for this very reason, he stubbornly continues to travel with his camera to the places where cultural diversity is not only proclaimed, but actually lived. His images depict people that struggle against the global trend, who adhere to the rituals and traditions of their ancestors, and who assert themselves as autonomous cultural communities with their costumes, dances, and song.
(André Meier)