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One of the most prominent Bulgarian photographers was born in Varna in 1946. In the period 1971 – 1981 he worked as a technological engineer in engine building. He has been on the scene of photographic art for over 30 years. He has passed through all its significant points in time and was awarded the highest honors. He has participated in authoritative photography forums in almost all European countries, in the USA and Canada and in some of the most prestigious photography festivals as Les Rencontresd’ Arles and Foto Fest – the photography biennial in Houston, USA. Works by Garo are part of the collection of the Sergio Poggianella Foundation. He devotes his work to thematic series, choosing his subjects from different strata of society. He was awarded the Honorary ACADEMICA Statuette. In 2022, Garo donated an exhibition of 30 of his iconic frames to the Bulgarian Academy of Photography. When he was asked about the title of an exhibition, the answer was „Simply “Garo Kesh””. GARO KESH Wherever he starts – from the port of Varna or from the streets of New York, from a fact or from a staged situation, Garo always succeeds to achieve the same haunting feeling of existence outside the vicissitudes of the existing. He pulls it out of the field of vision, like Hemingway’s old man pulling the gnawed skeleton of a huge fish out of the sea. Perhaps Garo, like the old man, dreams of lions, and his photography (along with the lifestyle in which he practices it) obeys some Zen Buddhist logic of contemplation: what it ultimately shows cannot be seen, but nevertheless, will make you want to keep watching it. In front of his camera everything is a well, just as the camera itself is nothing but such a well…
