With the Name of a Flower (NIGHT/Plovdiv 2019)

With the Name of a Flower solo exhibition as part of the curated programme Common Ground, part of the Arts and Culture festival NIGHT/Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 2019


Vera Hadzhiyska reverts to the partially shrouded events from the Bulgarian history. The project With the Name of a Flower studies the forceful change of the names of the Bulgarian Muslims (from Arabic/Turkish names to Slavic/Bulgarian ones) in Bulgaria in the period 1912 – 1989 in the historical context of the Ottoman Rule (1396-1878), post-Liberation Bulgaria, the Balkan wars (1912-13) and the "Revival Process" (1984-89). Such events are considered from a family and a personal viewpoint, examining the memories of people who were directly affected by the change of names and their successors. The artist is interested in how these historical events have affected the cultural, religious and national identity of the Muslim communities in Bulgaria and their collective memory; how the sharing or the purposeful omission of these memories from the family narratives causes a change in the sense of identity and belonging of the younger generations. The exhibition comprises a combination of photographs, a multimedia installation and archival documents.