02 June - 15 July 2023
Cu29 Gallery, Plovdiv
Opening: 02 June, 19:00 

The gallery space of Cu29 will host three installations presenting the stories of Ukrainian refugees living in Plovdiv. Author of the exhibition and director - Boris Zafirov, video shooting and editing - Vladislav Sevov, audio environment - Trifon Tashev, translator - Hanna Marushchak, organizer - Tatiana Shevchenko, design - Iva Stoyanova, photographer - Hristofor Balabanov, subtitles - Blažo Nikolić.

"Letter to Plovdiv residents" is a project presenting the personal stories of people from Ukraine who were forced to leave their country for one reason or another and currently live in Plovdiv.

The choice to know the people you live with is entirely personal and completely free. It is each person's right whether he or she will be interested in someone's human fate or in the fate of a whole group of people. No one can or has the right to make someone else feel guilty for not showing empathy or compassion. But it is also a matter of personal and societal responsibility to care about the person of the "other" in order to preserve the unity of civil society and position.

At Responsibility Theatre, we think it is important to seek personal encounters with the stories of people with whom we live in the same city. It is important for us to understand what lies behind the common definition of "Ukrainian refugee". To confront our own stereotypes and overcome them, to provoke a need to understand and empathize with the foreign history in ourselves.

"Letter to the people of Plovdiv" is a kind of test and a measure of the real capacity we have, of the extent to which we can "put ourselves in the shoes" of those to whom messages of empathy are sent en masse and continuously. In the process, we came to understand that the only thing we are capable of is getting close to the "stranger", trusting them with our own stories, sharing from our personal time. As a result of these conscious steps we took towards each other, we were able to access the truly essential elements of his personal legend. They stood out as important not so much because of the nature of the tragic life event and the context of war, but as a consequence of the trust and freedom with which they were shared.

The project is part of the cultural calendar of the Municipality of Plovdiv and is implemented with the partial financial support of the Municipality of Plovdiv.