Behind the curtain
By Vanyo Dimitrov
The Berlin Wall, which collapsed in 1989, was not only a physical barrier, but, above all, a mental and psychological obstacle to the unification of Europe. Today, it has become a metaphor for the entire Iron Curtain, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, separating the peoples of Eastern Europe from their cultural, economic, and political ties with the rest of the continent. The chain collapse of Soviet-style regimes in 1989, the most prominent symbol of which was, once again, the Berlin Wall, allowed these countries to go their own way.
Bulgaria, a former Eastern bloc country, joined the European Union in 2007. Although all former totalitarian states are undergoing a difficult transition to democracy, this country remains the poorest of the Member States. Still, it struggles to deal with corruption, populism, and censorship. One of the main reasons is that its citizens are divided when it comes to understanding and interpreting their recent past. This trend generates highly polarized positions in a society where a unified national memory of its complex history is lacking.
The Behind the curtain series documents and records the life, culture and customs of the large Bulgarian population and the unfinished transition from totalitarianism to democracy in 2022. Explore the inanimate world of objects, monuments and architecture reminiscent of the regime in a country that has actively sought ways of Europeanization for more than 15 years. It is clear that the vestiges of totalitarianism still surround us and, in this sense, we continue to live with its memory. But what does their presence mean, and how functional are they today? Are they part of our daily lives or simply objects that we cannot part with and that only remind us of the past?
This work also attempts to represent the generational gap between the survivors of the regime and their heirs (the so-called “post-memory generation”). The former convey contradictory narratives of the past. Meanwhile, the latter have to deal with the post-memory of a time that they do not understand, but that they perceive around them in objects, habits, and media. This is so confusing that one might wonder whether the Iron Curtain has really fallen or whether the process of Europeanisation is only imaginary.
About the author:
Vanyo Dimitrov is a documentary photographer. In his works he explores the social reality and the position of the individual within the mechanisms of public ideology.
Links:
