So, in games and jokes, our website "Bulgarian Illustration" turned 3 years old!
I never imagined that an idea could become a medium that could unite so many people. I have told many times how things started, but I have never shared it here, in front of everyone for whom this platform was created.
In 2017, I defended my dissertation on the topic “Bulgarian Artistic Illustration from the Early 40s to the Late 80s of the 20th Century. Trends and Phenomena”. As you can guess, the materials I had to process also entered the last decade of the century, where… oh my god, a black hole! Leafing through the previous years, I was already used to finding at least ten articles for one event in ten different print media – periodicals, collections, albums, newsletters or books, but since the early 90s – nothing! The Union of Bulgarian Artists had not yet compiled the last part of the album “120 Years…”, several colleagues called me for information and texts at that time, and events were literally overflowing – the National Central Committee had moved on, exhibitions were every week, and there was no response anywhere. No one was collecting this information in the way that I was already used to finding it in various publications such as the magazine “Art”, “Children, Art, Books”, “Literary Newspaper”, and even “Workers' Delo”.
The apocalypse in me wondered what would happen when, in another 10 years (for example), some other “dwarf” (as one of my teachers used to say) decided to write a work about our decade. What did we, who should write about it, leave behind? My, nothing! The IIII publishes four collections a year, which I have only found in the NBKM, the UBH watches their events, here and there a site posts an interview or two, Facebook does not count as media, university publications are also apocryphal, and often the collections of their scientific conferences go out of print years later, Kultura newspaper has sunk into some kind of jungle... I will not continue. No, don't get me wrong, I never imagined myself as Pliny the Elder or Giorgio Vasari, I was more aware that this "site" would be read by mom, grandma, dad and the dog, because it is beneath the dignity of my cat.
So, with these ideal goals in mind, I called my longtime friend Pantalei Stoyanov and asked him if he wanted to make a website. He took it upon himself to contact me and did it, for which I am grateful to him to this day. As I have always said and as it has always been – everything here is driven by good will. I have not taken anything from anyone for my “work” (okay, sometimes I ask for photos), and there are no advertisements, partnerships or European projects. All trips, photos, accreditations, tickets, hotels, travel, per diems, fairs, exhibitions, stories…
I believe that "Bulgarian Illustration" manages to open doors in our not-so-small world not only as a medium, but also as opportunities, because I know how many publishers, authors and colleagues find connections, work or competitions through the site, the presentations, the Biennial catalogue and I am happy every time I receive feedback about it 🙂 As long as I have the strength, we will have the site, which actually exists, because you organize exhibitions, participate in competitions, festivals, fairs, publish books and… and sometimes you get on my nerves and participate in sections like "We present" and "illustrators AT HOME" 🙂
Come on, I've talked enough so that I have something to say next year too, right?
I wish you a sunny Saturday and lots of smiles! ❤️
Milena 🙂
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