Generation Unlimited

They are a generation without limits and they are on the brink of adulthood. They live a lifestyle disparate from most of their parents. A lifestyle that offers them unlimited access to information, westernized mass media and a disposable income that didn’t exist before the fall of Communism during the Romanian Revolution in 1989.

In Bucharest today, consumerism is booming and anyone can look wealthy with the right clothes, cars and electronics. You can take shape of anyone you want. You can feel famous within your own social circles. Young people flood to the capital city to make a name for themselves and find their place in a society with unlimited opportunity. Nobody has to know your background or upbringing, anyone can fake it, or anyone can flaunt it. 

These young adults are still growing up. They are searching for what that means in an economic environment with few rules and no act to follow financially. There is no way to tell who is truly wealthy and who is faking it due to social pressure. They are a generation caught between a world they never were a part of and a future they are shaping themselves.

 Silvana Mihai, 18, performs in a youth theatre festival in Bucharest, Romania. 

After fixing his hair and putting on his sunglasses. Victor Boga, 19, walks out of his apartment party towards the taxicab that will take him into downtown Bucharest.

, 20, tries on a friend’s rabbit mask at Mojo Music Club before the band she accompanies on cello begins performing. Ciuplea moved from Constanta, Romania to pursue music at the university and professional level. "Moving to Bucharest being alone it was an adventure you know? This is growing up, to make your own decisions without asking someone."

 Andrada Nastase, 18, waits for her boyfriend to come over after school in Bucharest, Romania. Nastase lives in a house with eight other family members. “The image is 80% of what you are here. It's like you have two faces…your social face and your own face."

From a crowded porch, Alexandrea Mazuru, 21, rolls her eyes at a departing police car after the authorities stopped to check on the party.

, 20, smokes a cigarette in Mojo Music Club in downtown Bucharest. Ciuplea, a cellist, usually practices from 8a.m. to 10p.m. each day between music classes, band rehearsal and personal practice. She dreams to become a member of the Cirque de Soleil orchestra.

 An old gas stove and a new washing machine sit side by side in Anca Croitoru's kitchen. Croitoru believes her age group is the frontier between the old and the new generation. "Every generation things are going to change. I will transmit parts to the next generation. We’re transmitting a part of us. They will experience different things. I don’t think they will be untouched by our signature," she said.

Anca Croitoru, 21, laughs in her kitchen in Bucharest, Romania. She said her generation faces more obstacles than there were before the revolution. "Violence, drugs, sexuality, very well promoted today...maybe freedom is a challenge."

   Andrada Nastase, 18, sits on her bed with her boyfriend Razvan after he drove his car over to see her. "I don’t think people would buy a fancy car if there wasn’t anyone to see them," she said. Nastase said she doesn’t have any responsibility and doesn’t have to earn her money. “I think being grown up is mostly about making your own money and paying your own bills,” she said.

Carina Ioana, 19, scours as she tastes her friend's drink. The young woman attends a theatre high school in Bucharest. The friends had several drinks at home to avoid buying expensive drinks at the high-end clubs.

  Paul Raichel, 18, walks past a limousine on his way to take the metro home from rugby practice in south Bucharest, Romania.

 Carina Ioana, 19, leans up against a pile of women’s handbags at her friend’s apartment party in Bucharest, Romania.

Architecture students Elena Irofte, 21, and her boyfriend, Laurentiu Astefanoaie, wait for the metro in the morning rush hour in Bucharest, Romania. The dorm where Laurentiu lives has five beds, but only he and one other roommate live there full-time, and often Elena stays overnight. The students were born after the fall of Communism during the Romanian Revolution in 1989, but elements of that time still remain including the Bucharest Metro, which was built under the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu.

People pass by advertisements in the city center of Bucharest, Romania.