The Five Portraits exhibition brings together five of best Bulgarian photo journalists working for global information agencies. All of them are working (Mladen Antonov, Dimitar Dilkoff, Nikolay Doychinov) or had been working for AFP news agency. Their works stand out in the avalanche of news and images in international exchange, and yet this will be the first time they will be showcased in Bulgaria with the focus they deserve.

Five Portraits is an opportunity to see the different trends in the art of photography and the different choices the photographer is making in each individual case. Any attempt to generalise and systematise the work of the five artists would be superfluous and misleading. The images are what really counts. And they boldly take the spectator to various parts of the geographical and spiritual world, unmasking our fear of voicing our sincere attitude to what’s happening around us, making us proud or ashamed, making us ask questions about ourselves and the others, questions we often avoid answering.

Nikolay Doychinov

Nikolay Doychinov was born 35 years ago in Sofia, where he studied at the National School of Polygraphy and Photography. He joined the team of  AFP news agency in 2009. Nikolay's professional career in Bulgaria started with daily newspapers like Sega and Dnevnik, as well as the BGNES information agency. He worked for Reuters for three years, meanwhile doing freelance work for the New York Times, Spiegel, the European Pressphoto Agency, Getty Images, etc.

“The Living Tradition”

Some old rites and rituals remain a living part of our world regardless of the everyday dynamics in different communities. Others are reborn as a memory or an interpretation of an ancient tradition that was lost or forgotten. Still others become a symbol for those who seek their identity in societies from near and far. All of those form the kaleidoscope of contemporary Bulgarian rituals.

Dimitar Dilkoff

Dimitar Dilkoff was born in 1967 in Vratsa. He was 14 when he got his first camera, a Smyana 8M. In 1990 he took a professional approach to photography, and in 1991-2003 he was already working for Reuters Agency. Since 2003 until now he has been a correspondent for AFP news agency.

“Untitled”

1999-2017

Mladen Antonov

Mladen Antonov is a Moscow-based special correspondent of AFP news agency. From 1991 to 2003 he worked for the European PressPhoto Agency, initially covering the war in former Yugoslavia, then as a Moscow-based chief photographer for Russia and a Sofia-based chief photographer for the Balkans. In 2003 he started working at AFP news agency as a Moscow-based chief photographer for Eastern Europe and the Russian Commonwealth. In 2006 he became editor-in-chief of AFP news agency photo service in Paris. In 2011 he left for Washington as a director of the AFP news agency photo service for North America.

"Back to Russia"

“Each time I leave Russia I pledge to never set foot there again. And I keep coming back”, Mladen Antonov says about his Back to Russia series. “Being a Bulgarian, I have had mixed feelings about this country for years. We were made to study Russian at school, and they kept singing the praises of the USSR. They weren’t very convincing.” Mladen Antonov’s biography includes some serious work stints in Russia, but it is only now, as a special correspondent for the preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2018, that he doesn’t regret taking the job. Unlike his previous visits, when most people refused to be photographed, now his camera meets the new generation which looks open-minded, modern and hopeful. And yet, despite the birth of this new hope, the good old propaganda machine keeps running smoothly. “Putin never goes off the TV screen. Sometimes you can feel a whiff from the old Soviet past. But I’m still glad I’m here. I hope this time will be the last…”

Yana Paskova

Yana Paskova was born in Bulgaria, and is currently living in New York. But wherever she might be, her passion for photography and writing is a constant companion. The symbiosis between the two defines her personal style as a combination of striking imagery and powerful narrative. Her clients and creative venues include New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, National Geographic, Rolling Stone Magazine, New York Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Time, Bloomberg, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Getty Images.

"Cuba + Bulgaria: In Layers"

The inspiration of this long-term project on democracy and communism comes from a few faded family photos taken in Bulgaria before 1989. The parallel with the pictures taken in contemporary Cuba is most visible when the images are superimposed rather than placed side by side. This is how Paskova builds a bridge between one country’s past and another one’s present, to show that political ideals and those favoured or damaged by a certain regime, can become frozen in time and space.

Boryana Katsarova

Boryana Katsarova was born in Bulgaria in 1981. She was 15 when she discovered photography as her key to understanding the world. In 2007 she graduated in Art and Applied Photography at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts where she studied with Prof. Atanas Kanchev, and later defended her graduate thesis on The Aesthetics of Applied Photography. Between 2007 and 2010 she worked as a photo journalist for the Bulgarian office of AFP news agency. From 2011 onwards her work is represented by the French photographic agency Cosmos. She has been presented in exhibitions and online presentations in France, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, the USA, Russia, India, Lithuania and New Zealand.

"Endless"

“Endless” is a photographic documentary series showing portraits of refugees from Southern Sudan as well as everyday life in the world’s greatest refugee camp – Bidi Bidi in Northern Uganda. The photographs present an intimate and anonymous visual dialogue between the refugees and the author.
The point of the series is to turn people’s attention to the people of Southern Sudan where, ever since the middle of the 20th century, civil wars have caused an unending forced immigration. Since the outbreak in 2013 over 50 000 have died and over 2 million have their country in an attempt to escape the horrors of war.