Humanity in the city and nature—images from Sofia, Bulgaria
We are Kukuryak, a group that was initially created in collaboration with the organization ATD Fourth World, people in precarious housing situations and volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic, when socializing was extremely difficult for many. We started as a digital literacy workshop, providing access to computers at the crisis center for homeless people in the Zaharna Fabrika neighborhood in Sofia, finally closed. We then moved to the ATD office near the Women's Market in the center. Over time, other organizations joined, such as Doctors of the World and later the Foundation Za Nadejda («For Hope»), which is now the main driving force. Our group relies heavily on volunteers to conduct activities and provide support and care.
Kukuryak functions as a safe space for people who live in precarious housing conditions (who may live on the street or lack adequate housing, electricity, or water, be threatened with eviction by neighbors, etc.). The members of our group do not identify themselves as homeless because they all have a place we can call home in one way or another. Furthermore, homelessness is a social stigma and acts as a sentence for the most vulnerable members of society. However, no one is immune to it. Countless people fall victim to fraud by family, friends, or strangers, or fall into the traps of gambling. Others are surprised by financial crises or worsening chronic illnesses. Having a home is a basic need for all of us. When you don't have shelter and access to hygiene, you can lose everything else very quickly. For example, if you lose the possibility of bathing, you will also lose your job, just as if you had not slept all night due to poor conditions. According to definitions established in the European Union, homelessness is more than just a lack of shelter; it includes all people who live in insecure or inadequate housing.
The participants in Kukuryak are diverse. Some of us speak many languages, others are film lovers, former teachers, or poets. We get together for cultural activities such as knitting, cinema, computer literacy (truly relevant at the beginning of the collective, during the COVID-19 pandemic), music, protests for the right to water and hygiene, picnics, and photography exhibitions.
This Temporary exhibition at the Virtual Museum of Human Ecology (VMHE) consists of photographs taken by members of our collective in Sofia, focusing on the presence (or absence) of humanity in nature and in the city. For this project, we facilitated access to cameras for people in economically precarious conditions. This means sacrificing the technical quality of the photos (they may pixel when you try to focus), in favor of co-participation, teamwork, and artistic value. The photos reflect the city of Sofia through our eyes and in relation to our lives. In addition to the exhibition at the VMHE, at the end of February/beginning of March 2026 we will also hold a physical exhibition at New Bulgarian University, with the support of the Cervantes Institute, and later at the Toplozentrala Regional Center for Contemporary Arts in Sofia.
Kukuryak group, ATD Fourth World, Foundation Za Nadejda
Exhibition coordinators: Petya Andreeva, Félix Díaz (Associate Professor, New Bulgarian University), Victor Nikolov, Ivan Peynirdzhiev and Vanessa Rider. Volunteer collaborators: Livia, Rositsa, Ruslana, Shakila.