The work of eight women photographers who established themselves on the Bulgarian photography scene in the 1960s and 1970s is featured in the exhibition “Quiet Strength – The Ladies’ Group in Bulgarian Photography in the 1960s and 1970s”. The exhibition will open on Tuesday at Synthesis Gallery in Sofia and will run until December 5, the hosts said.
The exhibition is curated by Nadezhda Pavlova and features works by Deyana Stamatova, Kirilka Savova, Lilyana Georgieva, Lote Mihaylova, Petra Atanasova, Rumyana Boyadzhieva, Rumyana Chapanova and Yanka Kyurkchieva. Two of the photographers, Rumyana Chapanova and Kirilka Savova, will attend the opening.
The exhibition will bring together well-known works, photographs never shown before and materials from the photographers’ personal archives. It is based on several donations to the archive of the Yanka Kyurkchieva National Photographic Association. Through photographs, contact sheets, working prints, letters, diplomas and publications from the period, the exhibition traces the professional and creative paths of the eight women and raises questions about their place in the visual culture of socialist Bulgaria.
During the 1960s and 1970s, women began to gain increasing visibility in professional photography in Bulgaria. They worked for periodicals, producing photojournalistic reports, portraits and commissioned photographs, while also developing their own artistic styles, taking part in exhibitions and international competitions, and receiving prestigious awards.
Their early successes included Lotte Mihaylova’s gold medal at the Second National Photography Exhibition in 1963, the Photokina award in Cologne presented to Rumyana Boyadzhieva in 1966, and the selection of her photograph The Most Excited as the poster for World Press Photo in The Hague that same year.
“Rumyana Boyadzhieva, Deyana Stamatova and I were a powerful wave in our journalism. We were names people simply had to talk about. We were bubbling with energy,” Kirilka Savova recalled of that period.
One of the exhibition’s main themes is the interplay between professional assignments and individual artistic pursuits. Photographs created for specific publications or commissions later became independent works, featured in exhibitions and won awards. Examples include Lilyana Georgieva’s series The Generosity of Poseidon, Rumyana Boyadzhieva’s Directorial Moments, Kirilka Savova’s ballet photographs and Rumyana Chapanova’s Portraits Without a Brush.
Alongside their professional commitments, each photographer developed her own themes and interests. Deyana Stamatova worked with the nude form, Petra Atanasova photographed the Rhodope Mountains, Lote Mihaylova explored motherhood and intergenerational relationships, while Yanka Kyurkchieva experimented with colour photography techniques.
The exhibition will also examine their work in the context of the ideological and institutional restrictions of the time. Questions raised include the role of women photographers in propaganda, the boundary between editorial assignments and independent artistic work, and the degree of creative freedom available to them.
Archival materials and publications in Bulgarsko Foto magazine occupy a prominent place in the exhibition. The featured artist profiles, critical texts and documentary evidence reveal how the photographers were presented to the public and how they established themselves in the professional community.
The term “ladies’ group” was used by translator and journalist Krastan Dyankov in a 1970 article in Bulgarsko Foto magazine to describe the women photographers actively working at the time.
“Quiet Strength is a dialogue across time with eight women with whom we can communicate through the photographs, objects and words that have survived. The boxes they once closed are being opened again today, and from the fragments preserved inside them, we are telling their stories,” curator Nadezhda Pavlova wrote.
The accompanying programme will include a curator-led tour with Pavlova on October 27 at 6:30 p.m. and a screening of two documentaries on November 26 at 6:30 p.m. The films are The Legacy of Yanka Kyurkchieva (2023), directed by Elena Angelova and Anton Daskalov, and Bulgarian Photographers – Kirilka Savova (2022), directed by Emanuil Treyman.
The exhibition is produced by Synthesis Gallery and the Yanka Kyurkchieva National Photographic Association, with financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Photosynthesis. It is part of the Photography, People and Ideas Festival, through which Photosynthesis marks its 20th anniversary, as well as the 17th edition of the Month of Photography festival.
Sofia Exhibition Explores Work of Eight Bulgarian Women Photographers from the 1960s and 1970s THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-20 05:24:37
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