Photographer Mihaela Aroyo on the importance of knowing the history of Bessarabian Bulgarians

published on 9/25/24 1:24 PM

Photo: Facebook / Mihaela Aroyo

Mihaela Aroyo is a professional photographer from Varna, Bulgaria. She has no family or close friends who are Bessarabian Bulgarians. But in 2019, after attending a youth festival in a Moldovan village, she was deeply impressed and decided to dedicate herself to researching the culture, history and identity of the Bulgarian diaspora in Bessarabia. She made 14 trips to the region, visiting more than 60 predominantly Bulgarian settlements and recording interviews, songs and stories. She admits that on her first visit she knew almost nothing about the region:

"Before I went there for the first time, I thought that Moldova and Ukraine were somewhere very far away. It turns out that the distance from Varna to Bolgrad is only 350 kilometres. When you travel to these places, even though you are crossing several borders, you feel like you are back home. The last 200 years have been very dynamic for the region, with different authorities imposing their restrictions, rules, languages and ideas of governance. Some of these influences can still be felt today.

Mihaela tells us that Bulgarians in Bessarabia speak at least three languages in everyday life - their native Bulgarian, Russian, which is accepted as the universal language of communication in this multi-ethnic region, and Moldovan or Ukrainian, depending on which side of the border they live.

A local woman, an English translator, once told Ms Aroyo that she was not sure what language she was thinking in, but was convinced she was dreaming in Bulgarian. It was this revelation that became the title of a recent photography exhibition in which Mihaela shows just some of the many images she brings back from her travels in Bessarabia:

"These images are more or less an expression of my experience and knowledge of Bessarabia. In the beginning, five years ago, my perception was more literal, showing only the most visible cultural characteristics. With time, my photographs became more metaphorical, revealing other details of people's lives.

One of the issues that deeply concerns Bessarabian Bulgarians, even though the region is far from the combat zones, is undoubtedly the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has been raging for more than two years now.

It's a topic I'm trying to explore, but it doesn't dominate the I Dream in Bulgarian project, because I started it in 2019, which I guess means that half of the time I've been shooting there was before the war, and the other half - after. The war definitely divides society there as much as it does here, in Bulgaria.

I'm trying to look at it from that perspective: how the war affects the identity of the region? A lot of the initiatives that bring the Bulgarian community together are not happening at the moment because it's not safe to organise mass gatherings.

Also, what is the impact on everyday life? People cannot live as they used to and are constantly stressed that something bad might happen. In recent months, the minimum age to mobilise has been lowered and this is affecting more and more people. In the villages I have visited since the outbreak of the war, I can see that almost every family has made a sacrifice on the war front.

According to Michaela, Bulgarians rarely, if ever, talk about the diaspora in Bessarabia. Their knowledge of this community is scarce, which puts them in many awkward situations that could be avoided by taking a more serious interest in the lives of people with Bulgarian roots in Bessarabia.

At the same time, young people in Moldova and Ukraine have an idealised image of Bulgaria, shaped by the stories of their ancestors. Today, however, they have the opportunity to travel to their ancestral homeland, where reality often differs from expectations. Disillusionment with the image of Bulgaria is often reinforced by conversations with random people who, misled by their language, assume they are Russians and display extreme hostility towards them, says photographer Mihaela Aroyo.