School № 7

exhibition of photographs by

Vesselina Nikolaeva

Do people in the latter days of state transition stay connected to a past of which they have no memories and the last traces of which slowly disappear?





This is the story of students in a graduating class in one of the elite high schools of Sofia. It is a documentary of the first generation after the Cold War and depicts growing up in an adolescent society. After all, modern Bulgaria is only 17 years old, just like the students. It is a place, where the old stereotypes have disappeared, but are not yet replaced with new ones. A place, where young people are facing a future of unlimited possibilities to build the life they want for themselves, but where proper guidance is lacking. Contrary to western societies that are characterized by continuity and where children can therefore easily take their parents as examples to follow, in a country like Bulgaria, having experienced dramatic changes after the downfall of Communism, this is impossible. If the Old Generation was given identity by the political system, the New Generation is searching for one on its own. These fragile individuals have to transcend their material reality in order to find a passage from a world non-existent into a world still in the making.


More info at http://vesselinanikolaeva.com/

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