Young Land: Coming of Age in Bulgaria’s Northwest
Ongoing project

Young Land shows a perspective on youth realities and resilience in Bulgaria’s Northwest – a region too often defined by its decline. Not without a reason – the unemployment rate is soaring, there is no access to higher education, and young people stifle in multigenerational housing and lack of opportunities.

Approximately 33% of youth in the region are neither employed, nor enrolled in university. According to Eurostat, GDP per capita is circa only 25% of EU average, making it the region with the lowest living standard in the EU. The limitations are well known – the project shows how youth build their identity despite them. Lost childhood, restless adolescence, young love, days spent pursuing one’s passion and nights spent clubbing all seen against the backdrop of industrial decay, aging population, and crumbling infrastructure.

There is so much negativity surrounding the region that no one ever focuses on the positive. By spending time with youth, staying at their homes or following them through their everyday life, I wanted to show there really is something more than poverty and economic stagnation. It’s a place, both heartbreaking and beautiful, full of good people and youth that has not yet lost the ability to dream for a better future for Bulgaria’s Northwest.