"It Means Love and Peace" Lyubomir Ignatov
Hello, my name is Lyubomir (it means Love and Peace). I am a Sociology Graduate from Bulgaria, an ex communist country. I was raised in the family of a father who was an artist and a mother who was an engineer. We lived in the old Bulgarian capitol Veliko Tarnovo. It is a small city with thousand year old Bulgarian history and an important city in the Bulgarian art world.
I have seen the fall of our Bulgarian country, the fall of our Bulgarian culture, and the fall of the Bulgarians as decent humans. This happened in the cruel 90s, when the ex communist authorities changed their views and just became "the democratic mafia". My friends and I saw the bankruptcy of our country and then - APATHY KILLED THE BULGARIAN SOCIETY. For us, the young and the reckless, this was devastating. With no money and no food, we the next generation, the young and the hopeful, had to grow up in this crumbling country. This was the time when the mafia/politicians began to flood the streets with drugs and guns. With that came street wars...
Very few of us had a computer at that time. So our first sense of freedom was the computer cafes, this was a place for people to gather. The first place where as a kid, I was able to speak and do whatever the fuck I wanted to. Snowboarding, skateboarding, punk rock, and hip hop were shown to us from the older guys, the ones who took a big hit from this "transition" from communism to democracy. This generation had attended universities, in a country with no future. From these first moments, me and my homies realized that we could be happy and free. No matter how fucked our future was. Underground culture saved our sanity.
My father is an artist and I didn't get his talent in painting or sculptures; maybe my only option to create and speak my mind was photography. I started to photograph my weird friends, the hardcore punk scene, and our day to lives.
I am in a search of the beautiful and the weird in our everyday moments. I am an urban dwelling surveyor of the human conditions and it’s misanthropic glory. But no matter how bad our days seem, we must find inner strength and fight for a better world. A world where knowledge, love and peace will prevail.
P.S. 24th and Benning Road, NE, Washington DC I fucking love you!
Lyubomir Ignatov
cargocollective.com/lyubomirignatov
