Cosmin Bumbuț

Cosmin Bumbuț spent 15 years photographing for Romania’s leading brands and published in fashion magazines such as Elle, Marie Claire, Esquire and Harper’s Bazaar. At 40, he turned to documentary photography.

Together with journalist Elena Stancu he has been documenting Romanian migrant communities across Europe for six and a half years — a project spanning 12 countries and more than 130 reports. “Plecat” was shortlisted for the True Story Award in 2025, the European Press Prize in 2023, received a Pulitzer Center fellowship in 2021, and has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Literaturhaus Berlin and the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.

In 2012 he co-published the photo book Cuba continuă (Art Publishing House) with Elena Stancu. In 2013 he published Bumbata (Punctum), a photo book on life in Aiud Prison. In 2015 he won first prize in the Architecture category of the Sony World Photography Awards.