Finding @8minn in her mid 20’s living in one of the underrated neighborhoods of Sofia, kv. Iliyantsi. Finding that place to be similar to neighborhoods in #london and #berlin where creatives live and work. It’s sustainable for photography projects and is well connected to the center.
Merian is Creative Designer for @soundinpicture.jpg platform, photographer and a BA Film student at @new_bulgarian_university
Recommending you to have a look at the @soundinpicture.jpg platform and see if you can find something for yourself there. Especially if you are a music producer or a photographer.
She wears herself (on a T-shirt) as she said yesterday when we did the cover image. Gaining popularity and active part of a building in its process social creative circle in Sofia. She is a distinctive visual artist with outstanding style and looking to find individualistic ways of expression.
Text edit: MARIA SOPADZHIEVA
What is it that you do for Sound in Picture Project and why?
Firstly, Sound in Picture is a platform that brings together producers and photographers in a unique collaboration where sound is expressed through photography and vice-versa. I participated in two collaborations. One with a foreign and one with a Bulgarian artist. The second part of the project was a special series with tracks from Dzhordi. You can actually see all projects on the webpage Sound in Picture.
The idea of such a platform genuinely made me happy as it is distractive and works on making connections with artists based outside of Bulgaria. I could see that the publications themselves reached quite a few people. This was useful for @8minn, because of the natural spread of my work. Founder of the platform is Yavor Zografski. Gradually, my conversations with him became more frequent. I was interested in his ideas. Eventually he offered me to start helping him with different things. I’m currently a Creative Designer for Sound In Picture, helping with the graphic layout of the content of the page.
You mentioned that you worked on several projects during the last two years. Would you share a little bit more information on the projects and what was the outcome for you? Places, festivals, people?
It all started with Photo - Corps which is a project supported by the America For Bulgaria Foundation. That happened at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. Photo - Corps aimed to film and photograph cultural events. I was invited to photograph for the organization and was engaged with the work for nearly its whole length. Went to different places, events and met different people pretty much every day. Having access to such commercial and distinct stages I was able to drawn inspiration for my own work and at the same time gain professional experience.
One of the stages that inspired me the most was the ANTISTATIC Festival. Their main stages were located at the DNK Dance Center and Theatre Azaryan. The festival had invited various Bulgarian and foreign artists, whose performances got my attention. The performances were strong!
Thanks to the people I met during this time I was able to make a lot of contacts and meet new people. So, do make contacts! Naturally, what followed opened an opportunity for me to do some solo exhibitions and invite some of the people I have previously worked with. Most of them I admire till the present moment.
In 2020 I organized my first solo exhibition at Doza Gallery. It was quite exciting for me. A few more solo and collaborative exhibitions followed after that. What I have taken out of those is that I can work very well and really do feel free to create when I am given this freedom to experiment and have space to do it. But I also think it's even more important to shape your personal vision and style when doing for galleries, market of other events.
Festival: Rivers of Sofia, was valuable too. There were many positive sides and lessons I learned by being part of the Sound in Picture team.
Why you create? Everyone has some fiction about art.
Because that's how I feel...
What is the process behind your work?
Really, what I do is - I choose a topic or an object and use it for its intended purpose. However, I often turn the photograph I use into something completely different. That is the experimental part of the process. My idea is to feel good about what I do. When you like it, others may like it as well. This is how I connect with others. And that makes me feel understood.
Do we need collective initiatives or individual work for the development of society, both in a large-scale sense and in art?
Maybe both. It would be nice to have initiatives, but before that what needs doing is the individual work. Otherwise, initiatives won’t have productive or efficient results.
It really depends on various factors. Individual work is very important. One must have clear goals for what they want to achieve. Why they do something and with what do they fill they time. I believe that a person should be aware and most often this requires individual work.
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