Between poetry and photography - an interview with Teodora Lalova

Teodora Lalova is one of those artistic souls who impress with her presence. Art seems to emanate from her, and her education in International and European Business Law does not prevent her from being both a poet and a photographer. In the autumn of 2021, her debut collection of poems “In such caseswin "(Ars & Scribbles Publishing Group), which is a bilingual publication in Bulgarian and English, including photographs of her.

В Theodora currently lives in Belgium, where her first photographic exhibition, the Library of Arts and Philosophy at the University of Ghent, is on display. The exhibition is an impressive symbiosis between photography and poetry. Theodora tells more about this project and the process of creation in the following lines.

Last autumn, your debut collection of poems "In such speeds" was published, which includes your photographs. The exhibition in Ghent is also a symbiosis between the two arts. They seem to be part of your inner nature. How do you manage to combine them? Are they complementary?

I think that writing and photography are an expression of the same inner need for me - to get to know the world, to be careful with it, with its details. In this sense, I do not consciously think about combining them. Writing (but of stories) came first, in my childhood. Shooting - at the end of high school, with a growing passion in the twenties. Both have become to some extent a habit, a natural impulse to reach for notes or the phone / camera if I think there is a story that is good to share.

Do you happen to write poems based on your own or other people's photographs, or vice versa - to try to "capture" a poem?

So far I have not written a text on photography, at least not consciously. But it happened to me to write when I wanted to take pictures and I didn't have a suitable device with me. One of the texts in the book ("So I choose to put us in brackets (…)") was created this way - because of a sky at the end of September, which had nothing else to shoot.

There is no denying that your photographs are infinitely poetic. In them you capture mental states that are present in nature. Are you looking for them or are you just in the right place at the right time?

Thank you very much for the words! I think it's a little of both. On the one hand, I don't come up with the idea to shoot on purpose, maybe with two or three exceptions that I remember (for example, waking up at 4 in the morning to get to Cape Kaliakra just in time for sunrise). All the photos in the book and almost every one of the things I share online were taken while I was on my way to something else. The young man walking through the park was caught while I was going to buy coffee for a lunch break. The girl with the red scarf was caught in my first autumn in Belgium, during a Saturday walk around the city with my roommates at the time. The medieval street in Leuven Beginning is from early in the morning in March or April, while I go to a lecture. On the other hand, however, it is a fact that I consciously look for images, it gives me pleasure to pay attention to them.

You live in Belgium, but you are constantly in touch with friends and other artists from Bulgaria. How do you live between two worlds so different?

I like the space between, the boundary field. I've always been curious to explore it. Ever since I left, the home has somehow stopped being connected to one place, with some easy definition - although I don't know if it has ever been a place for me personally, even if only because my family history is connected to different cities in Bulgaria. , with great-grandparents crossing borders, etc. At the moment, for me the home is the places or moments where I love and where I am loved, where I can afford to be vulnerable, where I can do what I like and where I find meaning (both professionally and personally plan). However, the geographical worlds in which this happens are not very different - as I summarize here, of course, focusing on the shared cultural and value framework. Still, it wasn't easy, it couldn't be - especially in the beginning, before the memories and love of the new place were piled up. I feel connected to both worlds. I think that's the main thing - to connect, to work consciously for it.

Your book is bilingual - in Bulgarian and in English. Some of the poems have been translated, others have been written directly in English. Is writing in a foreign language different? Don't you feel these poems are somehow foreign or the language has become part of your inner world?

The language of my inner world is Bulgarian, I love and grieve in it, I experience my vulnerabilities through it, I grew up within its literary tradition. I think this invariably leaves an imprint on my writing, regardless of the language in which a text is written or the language in which it is translated. However, the poems themselves choose whether to be written in Bulgarian or in English, I have no conscious power over this. I do not feel my English texts are foreign to myself.

What would you like to keep in the minds of the people who will visit this exhibition?

I would dream of being curious about the language in the left column of the prints (the poems are presented in Bulgarian on the left and in English on the right) and wish they understood it, studied it if they were not yet among Miglena's students. Otherwise, for me the greatest joy is when a reader / guest recognizes something that is personal and close to him in a part of a poem or in a photo. I think this is: it would be a privilege for me and I would be happy if they kept in their minds that the word or image they met at this exhibition somehow comforted them or made them think - it was, figuratively speaking, about the sea near Balchik or for the sea, which is most dear to them, wherever it is.

Teodora Lalova (1992) was born in Varna and grew up in Sofia. She is a graduate of NGDEK "Constantine Cyril the Philosopher". Graduated in Law at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ”and a Master's degree in International and European Business Law in Leuven, Belgium. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Leuven and lives in Brussels. Her poems have been published in numerous Bulgarian and foreign language publications. He is a laureate of the poetry award of the National Literary Competition of the St. Kliment Ohridski ”(2016) and ranked second in the National Youth Poetry Competition“ Veselin Hanchev ”(2016). "On Such Afternoons" (published by Ars, 2021) is her debut collection of poems.

Teodora Lalova (1992) was born in Varna and grew up in Sofia. She is a graduate of NGDEK "Constantine Cyril the Philosopher". Graduated in Law at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ”and a Master's degree in International and European Business Law in Leuven, Belgium. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Leuven and lives in Brussels. Her poems have been published in numerous Bulgarian and foreign language publications. He is a laureate of the poetry award of the National Literary Competition of the St. Kliment Ohridski ”(2016) and ranked second in the National Youth Poetry Competition“ Veselin Hanchev ”(2016). "On Such Afternoons" (published by Ars, 2021) is her debut collection of poems.