Series - FotoSlovo 2026 - Category « Conceptual photography »
Honorable Mention
In the contemporary world, identity is increasingly perceived not as a given, but as a task. Individuals are called upon to construct a stable and recognizable image of themselves, a process that often generates inner tension.
Ego Death is a photographic series that explores the reverse movement – the moments when this constructed image begins to disintegrate. At its core lies my own personal history, a Bulgarian born in China and raised between different cultural and social contexts. This layered positionality situates the subject within a condition of unstable belonging and persistent uncertainty.
The project functions as a visual diary through which photography traces the my own transformation – from psychological isolation toward a gradual release from fixed notions of the self. In this context, “ego death” does not signify destruction, but rather the possibility of loosening socially imposed roles.
It is within this opened space that a question emerges:
Is it possible to find freedom if we are constantly compelled to be “someone”?
