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After growing up in Bulgaria , Svetlana Bahchevanova moved to the United States six years ago and currently lives in Brooklyn , New York .As a documentary and editorial photographer, Svetlana focuses on social, political changes and conflicts. She has been photojournalist for 18 years. She participated in an illegal democratic movement in communist Bulgaria and documented the entire process of democratic change there, published in a book “The Street”. Bahchevanova spent seven years as chief photographer of the first democratic newspaper in Bulgaria “Democracy”.Photojournalistic assignments from this period include: uncovering mass graves from the years 1944-46 - a research for a CNN coverage of the political development of Bulgaria after 1989; labour camps where members of the Bulgarian intellectual elite had been detained in the 1940’s and ’50s; the assassinations of members of the organized crime as well as; the photo projects investigating the struggle for human rights of the Bulgarian Muslims (photographs used as trial evidence before the Human Rights Commission, Strasburg).

Her photo essays often focus on human rights and social change such as covering the Muslim and Gipsy minority groups in Bulgaria, the war in Bosnia and Kosovo, the military attempt against the Russian president Boris Eltzin, the Revolution in Romania, and the events prior to the democratic elections in Yugoslavia.

Since the summer of 2001 Svetlana Bahchevanova has been working on a several projects - intimate portrayals of people and everyday life in America which explore issues of American culture, religion and political life…

Currently she is working on project “The Rez- Home of the Lakota Nation” which documents the social, economic and cultural struggles of this small group indigenous people divided between past and present - from what used to be an Indian to how to continue to exist as an Indian today.

Svetlana’s photo essay and news coverage is been published in AP, France Press, Gamma, SIPA, World Picture News, Aurora, Getty Images and magazines and newspapers as Paris Mach, Figaro, Humanité Dimanche, Capital, Marie Clair, W ,The New York Times and National Geographic.

Education:Photography College of Sofia, Bulgaria - Master’s

Prizes and awards:
2008 France - PX3 Honourable Mention for “The Rez - Home of the Lakota Nation”.
2006 USA- Jen Bekman Gallery, New York - Honourable Mention for “Portraits of Women”.
2003 USA- Nikon International 2003- Honourable Mention- Photojournalism - “Kosovo at war” Bulgaria - Second Prize, Fuji Photojournalism Prize - “Kosovo at war”.
1991 Belgium - Gent - Third Prize - Fine Art Photography -” Punk Portraits”
1988 Germany-International Photo Contest Carl Zeiss, Jena- Fourth Prize
1986 Bulgaria - Biennale of Photography -Second Prize

Solo Exhibitions:
2008 Bratislava Biannual of Photography - Curator of “Unknown Photographer”.
2008 The Netherlands, Noorderlicht Photo Festival - Curator of “Unknown Photographer”.
2008 Bulgarian Consulate, New York , NY - exhibition “The Liquid Gold of Bulgaria”
2005 Zino Contemporary, Santa Fe - Photojournalism - Kosovo/ September 11, 2001
2000 Gallery Makta, Sofia , Bulgaria - ” Portraits of Intellectuals”
1999 Russia- Moscow - “Ten years later”- Documentary photography
1999 Poland - Warszawa “Ten years later”- Documentary Photography
1998 Bulgaria- Department of Culture- ‘Ten years later”.
1997 Spain , Madrid school of Photography- Fine art photography
1997 Argentina- Buenos Aires, Fine art photography
1996 Poland- Krakow Photographic Society- Fine art photography
1988 Mexico- Mexico City, Month of Photography- Instituto de Cultura Yucatan -
1987 France- Month of Photography - Rambouillet -Collection of photographs
1987 Germany - Munich - Lenbahhouse Museum , Fine art photography

Group Exhibitions:
2008 PX3, France - Honourable Mention for “The Rez - Home of the Lakota Nation”.
2007. Palm Springs Photo Festival - USA - Cuba- Life at the end of Revolution
2006 Palm Springs Photo Festival - USA - Portraits of Homeless Veterans with PTSD
2005 Esquire Digital Photography Awards - Japan - Portraits of Native Americans
2003 Galapagos’s Art Space, Brooklyn , New York - Group show
2003 Brooklyn Arts Council, New York - Group show
2001 Zone Zero - USA - “Naked Bodies”
1999 Bulgaria- Second Prize, Fuji - Japan -“Kosovo at war”.
1996 Greece - Athena -Fine art photography
1995 Bulgaria- Plovdiv- International Salon of Photography- “Portraits of strangers”.
1994 Denmark - Society of Danish Photography- Fine art photography
1988 Belgium - International Photo Salon - Rumst- “Punk portraits”
1986 Biennale of Photography, Sofia, Bulgaria (Second Prize) -“Portrait of two women”

Work:
 Current: Staff photographer for the United Nations Women News Network and contributing photographer, Aurora Photos
Photography for catalogues for New York art galleries: David Zwirner, Yvonne Lambert, Houser & Wirth.

Most recent project “The Rez- Home of the Lakota Nation”.

1997 - 2001: Chief photographer for the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (the national news agency) responsible for national and international political events. Provided the first photographic evidence of Serbian atrocities against the Muslim population of Kosovo.

1989 - 1997: Chief photographer for “Democracy” newspaper, the first opposition newspaper in post-communist Bulgaria. Covering the events surrounding the fall of the communist regime, the national struggle for democracy, and regional international conflicts.

1991 - 1992 and 1997 - 2000: Personal photographer of the first democratic Bulgarian Prime Minister - documenting historic private and official meetings of the Prime Minister and members of the Bulgarian Democratic government with European and US counterparts.

Magazines and newspapers:

2008 National Geographic, Bulgaria “The No Man’s Land”

2008 National Geographic, Bulgaria “Liquid Gold”

2007 W - Illustration of article about the artist Paul McCarthy
2006 The New York Times - Photo essay about sculpture studio in Brooklyn
2006 Marie Clair, Australia - Photo essay about the writer Precious Williams
2005 Capital - Portraits of economist Jeffrey Sachs
2005 Paris Match -Portraits of the boxer Jack LaMotte
Books:
The Street: Photographs of the social movement that helped initiate the first democratic elections in Bulgaria , in 1989. 1997, XIII Century Bulgaria Publishing, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Remember Me: Curator for the publication of a history of Bulgaria told through images by anonymous photographers, drawn from family albums. (Currently in preparation for print).

Private Collections:
Braun and Forman Private Collection - 9.11.2001 Photographs from ground Zero
David Stuart, Private Collection - Limited edition
Portfolio of photographs from the book The Street