Charity Through a Lens 2015

Faces, of people who help and of people grateful for the help, are the focus of this year's Charity Through a Lens photo exhibition. It was launched on 28 September in the marble lobby of Sofia’s National Palace of Culture.

For the first time the exhibition also presents three photo projects, of Boriana Katsarova, Vladimir Pekov and Tihomir Rachev, carried out during the spring and summer of 2015 in Bulgaria.

This is this country’s first ever documentary photography competition test that provides grants to artists to carry out their projects.

Boryana Katsarova’s photo essay My Bulgaria, Our Parents documents the lives of the elderly in small towns and villages around the country and the support and human interaction they receive.

Vladimir Pekov‘s photography project dubbed  In One Direction "tells" the stories of the  casual meetings of the hitchhiking photographer and his companions, and each builds photo story depicts a picture of charity, as everyday and simple as people see it.

Tihomir Rachev is the author of the Friends of the Sea project. He put on film the activities of  Friends of the Sea club in Varna where disadvantaged youth from the northeastern region learn to dive and to interact more efficiently with others.

The exhibition also includes the works of winners in the photo competition:  first prize winner Marathon for Everyone  by Manol Donchev, second prize winner A Classroom Under the Birch by Mirela Vavova, and third prize winner Nikola Kolev’s  In Mummurs’ Arms.

With a total of 232 votes the audience voted for its favourite photography,  the photo essay dubbed Give Food to a Pensioner in Need by Iva Dimova. It too is on display.

The exhibition is open until 7 October 2015. It will later travel to cities across the country.

The project is implemented by the Bulgarian Donors Forum and the Bulgarian Charity Aid Foundation.  The jury that evaluates grants and the general competition entries comprises Boris Misirkov, Vera Gotseva, Elitsa Barakova, Krasimira Velichkova , Nadezhda Pavlova, Nadezhda Chipeva and Yavor Popov.

Prizes for the winners were provided by sponsors Aurubis Bulgaria, Raiffeisenbank, Coca-Cola Bulgaria.

Partners: Yanka Kyurkchieva  Bulgarian Photo Academy,  Bulgarian Photographic Association , Photo Forum. Media partners: Vesti.bg, Objects, News Manager, Off News, Information Portal for NGOs in Bulgaria , Photosynthesis, FOTOmaniya.