I made this image during high-school for a local art competition on the integration in European Union of Romania. At this competition, children from multiple high-schools participated. I won the first place with this project. I had the idea to represent the poverty and the primitive level of the Romanian population: poor education and poor living standards.

This is my first image made in this sketch-like style. The style comes to support the message of the image. The wagon is meant to suggest that most Romanians are peasants. The majority of the Romanian population lives in rural area and many of them have agricultural related activities. The missing oxen and yoke suggest something is wrong. The people become so poor they no longer afford to own oxen or... somebody stole the oxen and parts of the wagon. This is a metaphor for how the agricultural and industrial potential of Romania has considerably dropped since the 90s, when the integration in European Union started slowly. This road to integration is long and has its ups and downs. There are pros and cons to the integration. The European Union is illustrated by skyscrapers, urbanization. Around the buildings, there is a very high wall, as if it is a fence. It symbolizes E.U. is protecting itself.  I am suggesting that the integration is achieved only on the terms imposed by E.U. There is only one way in, one road. You cannot negotiate much your way in.

Download the 3D wagon (ZIP file, 700 kb)