The new faces of Zhenski Pazar (the Ladies’s market)
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Exhibition of students from the Bachelor programme „Photography“ at the New Bulgarian University: Alexandra Argirova, Dilyana Hristova, Ivan Alexandrov, Kristian Kanchev, Malina Panayotova, Mihael Mladenov, Mihail Mihaylov, Nikolay Ivanov, Tsvetozar Tsanev, Yana Todorova Curators: Prof. Lyudmil Hristov and Dr. Lilyana Karadzhova Gallery „Serdica“ Address: Sofia, 90 Tsar Samuil str., Floor 2, the renovated part of the Ladies’ Market The project is supported by the Sofia Municipality and „Vazrazhdane Market“ EAD The New Faces of the Ladies’ Market creates a colorful image of the most vital place that has preserved the culture of Old Sofia. In addition to their colors, the shops and stalls provoke sympathy with the bright emotions and expressions of the people who work behind them. The young photographers from the Bachelor programme „Photography“ at the New Bulgarian University carefully scrutinize the merchants. The portraits capture them in a complex, rich in detail environment, but drive the attention to their faces. Sometimes the person is revealed in open communication seen frontally while at other times they are implied by a side view. In the history of photography, the subject of the trading man has established some of the first and lasting forms of genre syncretism. At the end of the nineteenth century, Louis Vert, Eugene Atget and other French photographers took pictures of street professions and traders in Paris. Nowadays, their portraits in the documentary series Les petits Metiers open up a panorama of non-existent professions. The theme was approached by dozens of photographers across Europe. The pictures from the Ladies’ Market shot in the years before World War II are precious documents reflecting the culture of Old Sofia and the once called „Corn Market“. The Exhibition „The New Faces of the Ladies’ Market“ shows contemporary photographic icons of trade, and the goods and products are conceived with curiosity for the skills of the specific person. Producers sell food raised by their own hands, traders have collected the best harvest and tools using their subtle knowledge, and artisans offer artifacts that have been crafted with the skill of progenitor masters.
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