Public Affairs Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest Alys L. Spensley said on Tuesday evening, after the opening of touring photography exhibition “We, the People” in Brasov, that it has been seen by more than 13 million people in the last two years.

She added that her presence in Brasov acknowledges Romania’s strong position in favour of democracy and common values. The exhibition tells the story of our security partnership, our economic prosperity, as well as these democratic values.

The exhibition is also dedicated to Madeleine Albright, there is a panel dedicated to her. It was the recognition of her direct support and impact in diplomatic affairs, the establishment of the strategic partnership and even Romania’s accession to NATO, in 2004.

The U.S. Embassy official added that the economic prosperity in Brasov, Romania and the United States shows how the two economies are becoming stronger together.

She also said that the exhibition “We, the People” is a joint public diplomacy project and a joint effort of the U.S. Embassy in Romania, Romania’s Foreign Ministry – Diplomatic Archives Unit, and the National News Agency AGERPRES, in collaboration with the University of Craiova.

Brasov Mayor Allen Coliban thanked the U.S. Embassy for the opportunity to recall the history of a quarter century of strategic partnership.

“A quarter of a century that has left its mark both on us, individually, and on us, as a society and as a nation. I remember, back in 1997 I was 18 years old and I can say that my generation, along with my parents’ generation and our grandparents’ generation, experienced the joy of this beginning, this strategic partnership, but in such different ways. Brasov County and the city of Brasov have a past of struggle in the name of freedom and all these things take on a very special dimension for us,” said Coliban.

AGERPRES Director General Claudia Nicolae said that the exhibition includes three types of photographs: documentary photographs that reflect a certain study of an element, artistic photography with emotions, faces, smiles, tears, maybe suffering and journalistic photography.

“Journalistic photography is that photography that leaves objectivity and reality to history. Why? Because we don’t intervene with journalistic photography, maybe we walk or adjust the brightness very little. (…) So, there is an image composition in this exhibition and that has made me happy in all nine presences with our partners at the U.S. Embassy. Because AGERPRES is the national news agency that for 135 years has been storing, I can say accumulating, the history of this country. I heard here, in all the speeches, some key words that impressed me: memories, legacy, emotion. They are the words that, in the end, reflect the soul of a journalist. Because when a journalist shows an image or conceives a text, the journalist has first of all his brain and heart there,” concluded Nicolae.

The touring photography exhibition “We, the People” that opened on Tuesday in Brasov was presented to the guests by its curator Irina Hasnas Hubbard, and it can be visited throughout September 3.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, the exhibition is a photographic essay that explores the diplomatic, security, economic, and cultural relations between the Romanian and American peoples.

AGERPRES has provided 20 photographs for the exhibition and the Diplomatic Archives Unit of the Foreign Ministry 13.