Vera Hadzhiyska

multi-disciplinary project, 2021

Your Name is a continuation of the long-term project With the Name of a Flower exploring the forced name-changes and repressions against the Muslim people in Bulgaria.

This new chapter of Vera's project consists of a photographic series (published as a photo zine) and a moving image piece, which were made during a trip to Bulgaria in September 2021 when Vera met with people from the Pomak and Turk communities.

This work, created with the support of the VID Foundation for Photography mentorship award, is part of a deeper investigation into the sense of identity and belonging of Muslim people in Bulgaria and how the events of the past have affected their contemporary life and identity.

video piece, 2021

The Mosque Garden is a video piece created during a conversation with three elderly gentlemen in the garden of a mosque. These men shared their thoughts on the name changes and repressions which they too had lived through. The viewer is invited to become a fly in the garden, eavesdropping on our candid conversation.

The video, despite just snippets of a conversation, evidences the impact of the turbulent past on people’s lives and collective memory. The men remain anonymous and the only visible trace of our meeting remains the apples and dull knife on the table.