Lote Mihaylova

Lote Mihaylova was born in 1925. She graduated from a Cinema and Photography School. After September 9, 1944, for the first time a nude photo of Lote Mihaylova was exhibited in an exhibition hall in 1963. “For the first time, a nude photograph was presented at a photo exhibition, but the photo “Nude” of Lote Mihaylova was rejected as immoral and decadent, and that enraged the participants,” wrote the witness of the event Petar Boev. “The rebellion ended in a victory for the innovators. The photo “Nude” was not only accepted, but was also awarded a gold medal,” the author points out. Lote Mihaylova is the winner of numerous awards, including two gold medals at the “Photo of the Week” in Munich in 1973. In 2007, she was awarded the prize of the city of Marburg within the framework of the “Social City” program. She is the winner of the Honorary ACADEMICA Statuette. She was awarded by the Ministry of Culture for her outstanding contribution to the development of photography in Bulgaria. ROOTS She avoids contrasts, the sharp opposition of white and black. In the landscape, she prefers subjects where the land’s shapes are not solid, do not weigh down with their substance but seem to fade away in the air… In the portrait, she prefers the image of the woman, the child. At the same time, from the contrasting image of the Mother, she evolved the idea of Motherhood. Apparently insignificant subjects she charged with universal significance, touching in a modern aspect on some of the eternal dilemmas of life: good and evil, betrayal and nobility, sorrow and joy, old age and youth. Her artistic works are described as “poetry in black and white” for being perceived rather emotionally than intellectually.