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| Georgieva Alla Born in 1957 in Kharkov, Ukraine. Lives and works in Bulgaria. Tales of Love, Great and Small For a while now I have been collecting love postcards from the beginning of the last century. The romantic couples depicted on each, are seemingly carefree. The images are based on black and white photographs hand-finished in sugar sweet colours; on the back they are invariably inscribed with amorous messages. The postcards date back to the most significant events of the 20th century -revolutions and wars, Red Terror, acts of collectivization, Soviet Labor and Nazi Death camps, horrific famine and political repression. In these postcards love appears as a fragile victim of the grandiose dreams that the great architects of the era -Lenin and Stalin- had. Love as a rose-tinted and otherworldly illusion. Likewise, the great dream for worldwide happiness turned out to be just a blood-soaked delusion. In their grand design, in their utopian paradise, people are required to sacrifice their private life and happiness in the name of the collective good. In pursuit of these “love utopias” humanity has had to pay with blood, humiliation and fraudulent illusions. “The death of someone is a tragedy, the destruction of millions is statistics” stated Stalin infamously. “Ich Liebe Deutschland!” echoes Hitler’s patriotic declaration. Millions of people were offered as scapegoats on the sacred altar of love for the nation and fatherland. “Any sacrifice will not seem too big in the face of the main ideal” goes on Hitler. I tried to put the leaders and their better halves in the places of the lovers from the postcards. In the position of those ordinary people -both accomplices and victims, so easily disposable in the name of Great Love. I attempted to get dictators to “survive” deeply hidden, intimate feelings. How could one adore one’s beloved and destroy others at the same time? How could one dress one’s cruelty in humane missions? How could one strike a deal with one’s conscience in the name of yet another “great idea”. What is the price one should pay for love? Alla Georgieva  Download CV |  A Boat Trip, 2008 French Coffee, 2008 Guess Who Is Here, 2008 Happy Family, 2008 Spring Is Here, 2008 |
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