UNTITLED (Bulgaria, 1986-1989)
Nude photography was a taboo in communist Bulgaria. Both the authorities and public opinion combined in condemning it. For the former, such photography was capitalist propaganda for the West; for the later it was an unacceptable invasion of the private sphere. Thus it was not easy for the photographer Dimitar Nestorov to find models. For most Bulgarians, recording the naked body was nothing short of provocation. Nestorov drew his inspiration from Western photo magazines with nude portraits, which he encountered at the photography club at the university in Sophia. Making or exhibiting nude photos in public spaces was unthinkable in communist Bulgaria.