montana, bulgaria
The NW region of Bulgaria is recognised by the European Union as the poorest part of the EU, with a GDP of only about 25% of the EU average. The region corresponds approximately to the Montana oblast which was in existence from 1987 to 1999, but which both before and since then was divided into the three okrugs (pre-1987) and oblasts (post-1999) of Vidin, Montana and Vratsa. Life here has suffered what the Bulgarian journalist Diana Ivanova calls “a collective breakdown”: firstly, of the traditional village way of life under collectivisation, and, secondly, of the communist structures following their collapse in 1989.
NW Bulgaria presents a very attractive face to most Western visitors, although it receives but few: the landscape is beautiful, often mountainous and forested, the flora and fauna is diverse and rich, and of course the human settlements have that picturesque quality that is often inherent in places noticeably sidestepped by modernity. But for the inhabitants prospects often appear bleak: there is a subsistence-level life in the villages and few employment opportunities. The region is experiencing depopulation. The young head for the capital Sofia or for one of the other large towns in Bulgaria, or are drawn overseas to work in Germany or elsewhere within the EU. Another key phenomenon in the depopulation is the exodus of mature women to Greece, Spain and especially Italy, where they work as carers and auxiliaries in nursing homes and hospitals. In Italy, these women care workers are known as badante. They may spend several years abroad, away from their families, saving or remitting money home to dependents in the villages.
Sofia’s National Art Gallery is currently showing a tremendous temporary exhibition called “Traumas and Miracles: Portraits from North-Western Bulgaria”, combining monochrome photographs of people and places by Babak Salari, an Iranian photographer, and accompanying text by Diana Ivanova. The exhibition focuses on a cluster of nine villages: Chelyustitsa, Dolna and Gorna Bela Rechka, Dolno and Gorno Ozirovo, Druzhevo, Lyutadjik, Milanovo and Zanozhene.
For more information, visit the “Traumas and Miracles” Facebook page , the Town of Badante Women documentary film website and the Goat Milk festival website.