The exhibition "Here, where I am" presents the first fruits of the work within the "Photo workshop 66" - a documentary photography workshop for unaccompanied refugee children who migrated to Bulgaria from the Middle East. The initiative was started by Michaela Vatcheva a year ago, when her colleagues from the United States, Singapore and Bulgaria donated used digital cameras to gift to the refugee children. The idea behind this gift, beyond its material value, is for them to feel trusted and empowered to tell their own stories. The second workshop was held in the last few weeks in the Sofia neighborhood "Ovcha Kupel". In Michaela’s words: "Even when they try to expand their horizons, getting to know members of the Arab diaspora in Sofia and their allies, the children find themselves too often between the four walls of their shared rooms, in the safe zone for unaccompanied refugee children in Ovcha Kupel. The city seen through their eyes is a tourist destination and a prison. Their stories testify to a sense of being stuck too early in life. At the same time they are imbued with a desire to experiment in a universally familiar coming-of-age whirlwind. The refugee camp is a place where they create a community, with all its complexity, problematicity and healing capacity.”
During the workshop, Teodora Nikolova, psychologist from The International Organization for Migration - Bulgaria (MOM), works with children to reduce the stress of emotional disclosure and public performance. Social workers from IOM also support the workshop with bilingual, culturally competent care. The first week also included intensive training, which took place in the department of photography in New Bulgarian University.
The exhibition "Here, where I am" is made possible thanks to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR-Bulgaria) and Swimming Pool. "Photoworkshop 66" is also supported by Bulgarian Red Cross and Multi Kulti collective. "Photoworkshop 66" has been declared a "good practice" by the European Commission on their EWSI integration page.
