Photosynthesis and Synthesis Gallery present an exhibition of Garo Keshishian‘s “Labor Troops”, one of the most significant documentary series in Bulgarian photography. Produced in collaboration with the artist specifically for Synthesis Gallery, the exhibition comprises 92 photographs made between 1983 and 1995. The subject is forced labor in Bulgaria, a government policy rarely discussed publicly even today. The project creates a figurative space of empathy and personal connection between the artist and the conscripted laborers with ever-present attention to the human side of their daily ups and downs.
“It was with great effort that I gained the trust of my subjects to capture their silent daily struggle to preserve their humanity in the face of largely inhuman conditions. The glaring ethnic discrimination that was at the core of the Bulgarian labor troops is ever-present in the pictures, but what kept me coming back was my empathy for these young men whose only fault was being born at a particular place and time.“ – says Garo Keshishian.
The photographs in the exhibit were printed after the original negatives were restored and scanned by Victor Gerasimov. Rafaelo Kazakov, a photographer, collector and Garo’s friend is credited with the retrieval, organizing and proofing of the negative archive. We invited him to share some of his thoughts on the project:
“40 years ago Garo Keshishian began photographing conscripted laborers, and that was the beginning of a self-assigned project that lasted more than a decade. In its finished form, this project turned out to be his magnum opus, an extended series in which his vision reflects the social reality of the time.
In 1983, through a combination of good luck, persistence, and personal contacts, Garo succeeded in getting access to the working and living quarters of these soldier laborers. In the years to come, he continued photographing intermittently, if and when circumstances allowed him. The photographer had to keep a low profile, working “under the radar” as the access granted him was provisional and unofficial.
In “Labor Troops” Garo is working within the genre of “humanist photography” in which the documentary approach focuses on the human dimensions of a story and not on its newsworthiness. The photographer’s eye probes into reality without any attempt to alter it, but it comes to us as images on paper inevitably refracted through the artist’s personal likes, dislikes and emotions. Garo’s vision is sharp and unflinching, but also compassionate and forgiving.
Human dignity survives in the harshest of conditions and the photographer sees this. The social situation that has these people by the throat is somewhat alleviated by the fact that their roles (sergeant, soldier, new recruit) are human, and by definition that makes them shifting and uncertain.
Garo Keshishian’s “Labor Troops” is both a testimony to a slice of reality left outside Bulgaria’s visual history and a humanist’s memo to future generations who might be interested in how an unfamiliar social system had human lives in its grip in Bulgaria not so long ago.”
Curator: Nadezhda Pavlova
Garo Keshishian : Labor Troops
Until February 15, 2025
Synthesis Gallery
Sofia Center
Vasil Levski Blvd 57
1142 Sofia, Bulgaria
https://gallerysynthesis.bg/
