The Green Place Without a Name
Author
Research and exhibition of Remina Alexieva and Ralitsa Belcheva
When
2024
Where
“Sukhata Reka” District, “Vasil Levski 1928” Community Center
In the ‘Poduyane’ district there are many green public spaces, left unmaintained and often finding informal uses. These places are important for the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods, where they find a place for recreation, activities and adventures.
In mid-July, Remina Alexieva and Ralitsa Belcheva created an exhibition at the ‘Vasil Levski 1928’ Community Centre to encourage conversation about green spaces in the neighbourhood – what they looked like in the past, what they look like now and what they could potentially be used for. The exhibition includes the personal narratives of residents through six portraits, documenting spaces in the neighbourhood but also their favourite memories, experiences and dreams associated with specific places. For Remina and Ralitsa, the project is a starting point for civic discussions that expand the collective imagination about what the possibilities are for the development of the neighborhood, paying attention also to those small and pleasant things that make people want to live here. The initiative is part of the strategy of the ‘Vasil Levski’ Community Centre to develop “civic sit-ins” in the future.
At the opening we had a discussion with the artists, Boris Samarinov (National Chitalishte “Vasil Levski 1928”), the experts from Team Sofia Hester Gartrell (cultural mediator) and Volen Gerchev (urban planner),Andrea Pandulis (deputy mayor of Poduyane district) and residents of Sofia. We talked about the challenges facing green spaces in the area, the vision of Sofia residents on how they can be improved and how we can use civic approaches to shape them together – as we want them to be.
From December 2024 the exhibition can be seen in the building of the ‘Poduyane’ Municipality.
Ralitsa Belcheva is a photographer with an affinity for documentary photography. She is passionate about topics related to everyday life and our surroundings, human interaction with the environment and its conservation, cultural phenomena and minorities. During an Erasmus program in photojournalism in 2022 in Aarhus, Denmark, he created several documentary projects on these topics. One of them deals with the topic of overdevelopment on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
Remina Alexieva is a researcher and active citizen, focusing her work on adaptation to and mitigation of environmental problems and their social consequences, as well as the use of democratic methods for citizen participation. Some of her work includes the photographic series “Strandja – the expanses of our unconscious”, as well as the short films “The Voices of Sinemorets” and “With Concrete on the Sea” of the association “Save Strandja” .
The project is organized in partnership with the Chitalishte “Vasil Levski 1928”.
Part of the first edition of “Nine Elephants” in 2024.
In partnership with Center for Social Vision, Chitalishte “Vasil Levski 1928”, Poduyane Municipality.
Links
Presentation of an audio guide that can be listened to alone or in a group during a walk in the city