TALES OF THE BULGARIAN ROSE A JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF BULGARIA
From Rick Truax and Anelia Dimitrova 

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 In 1997, journalists Rick Truax and Anelia Dimitrova travelled to Bulgaria to chronicle its transition to democracy. The Berlin Wall had fallen eight years prior and like many other Eastern European countries Bulgaria was stumbling along an uncertain path from a state-run economy to a free-market one. Looking to show the impact these seismic political shifts had on real people, the authors went into the very heart of the country at the foot of the Balkan Mountains—the valley of the roses.

This series of photojournalistic images documents Bulgaria’s centuries-old rose industry amid the hopes, dreams and uncertainties that lined the road to democracy that summer of ’97. The prints in this show document the exhausting efforts of pickers in the fields, workers in the distilleries, everyday life in nearby villages, contrasted with the dancers and performers taking part in the annual festival celebrating the rich history, culture and folklore of the Bulgarian rose.

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