Sofia, Bulgaria

With Bulgaria’s continuously shrinking population combined with increasing numbers of economic migrants, walking around the city of Sofia gives one an intense feeling of displacement and isolation. I travelled to Sofia to find out more about the refugee crisis and to visit a charity football match organised by a non-profit organisation, Student Aid Drop. The project aimed to explore and communicate the lives of the migrants living in the city and their feeling of dislocation. Alongside the issue of population, the Aleppo bombings of 2016 left many without safe housing and thousands were forced to flee their homes and begin new lives elsewhere. This work visually explores the displacement and isolation felt by the refugees living in Bulgaria and their struggle to integrate into a society that continues to reject them. The project was shot entirely on medium format film, featuring a mixture of portraiture and the barren landscapes of rural Sofia. Combined with the addition of a self-made Cyrillic typeface, the documentation blurs the lines between cultures and questions our sense of place on Earth.