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Svetlana Bahchevanova is a Bulgarian photojournalist and founder of FotoEvidence Publishing House. As a journalist, she mainly works on long-term projects, often related to human rights violation and social injustice. In Bulgaria, she worked for the newspaper “Demokratsia” and the Bulgarian News Agency. In 2001, Svetlana moved to live in Brooklyn, New York, where she founded the FotoEvidence Press Publishing House. The photo books that she and her team publish are testimonies of violated human rights and social injustice, which is reflected in the name of the Publishing House. Many of the published books have been awarded over the years as “best book of the year” by the Time magazine, the New York Times, Vogue, etc. She is the winner of the Honorary ACADEMICA Statuette for 2015. AND HE CAME ON A WHITE HORSE “And He Came on a White Horse” is a photographic project about the role of old traditions in the Tinsmiths’ clan of the Bulgarian Roma. In this community, young girls of marriageable age are introduced to society during the so-called ‘bride markets’. The theme reflects complex issues related to cultural identity, women’s rights, social integration as well as the role of mass media in the construction of minority identity. The author started this project to contribute to a better understanding of what Tinkersmith women experience during these “markets” and what their lives are like during the assumed arranged marriage, hoping to help a better understanding of the minority culture in the European community, part of which Bulgaria has become.
