Еxhibition “100 years ago with the photographs of Antip Koev Obushtarov”

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The Bulgarian Cultural Institute London and Folk Community Centre ‘”Svetlina – 1861″ from the city of Shipka, are pleased to invite you to celebrate together the Day of the National Revival Leaders with the opening of a retrospective photography exhibition and the presentation of the photo album “100 years ago with the photographs of Antip Koev Obushtarov” on 01.11.2022, from 7:00 p.m. in the “Sofia” Gallery of the Bulgarian Cultural Institute London.

Antip Koev Obushtarov was born on August 14, 1888 in the village of Shipka, Kazanlashko. He is a multifaceted person – artist, musician, carpenter, inventor, publisher, but above all a photographer. Antip photographed life in the village of Shipka – as he saw it in the period 1906 – 1931. – the quarter of the century – a time of poverty and affluence, peace and war, upheaval and defeat. His studio is outdoors. His reports from rural life (on the fields, in the pub and in the rose garden, on the mountain and river…), from birth to death, are remarkable.

On July 29, 1942, Antip Koev Obushtarov left this world at the age of 54. He leaves us a huge legacy, almost unknown at the time, of hundreds of glass plates and contact copies, scattered in family archives, private collections, museums and state archives.

Let’s immerse ourselves in a bygone world, the world of Antip Koev Obushtarov – the photographer, from whose glass plates today emerge images, events, landscapes from a century ago.

In January 2021, the Kazanlak photographer Alexander Ivanov went at the invitation of the new curator of the Ethnographic Museum “Chirpanlieva Kashta” at the Community Center in the city of Shipka to examine glass plaques over 100 years old. It turns out that plaques are a real treasure. The creativity of Antip reveals moments of life in Bulgaria, preserved images of National Revival Leaders – teachers, public figures, musicians from the wars from the beginning of the 20th century. The exhibition is also unique for another reason. Today, 100 years later, another author has joined – The Patina of Time. Erosion in the emulsion layer of the plaques has formed incredible graphic images that over the years have blended with the images captured by Antipas’ camera.

The exhibition and the album are made possible thanks to an incredible donation campaign implemented by Alexander Ivanov and Folk Community Centre ‘”Svetlina – 1861″ in the city of Shipka, the album is the result of the one-year efforts of a team of nine people. 220 author’s photographs were published in the album, and 106 works in the exhibition.