Kameliya STOEVA

IN PIECES 

On a cold January night, I received a call from a friend of mine who reached to me with a special request. " I need you to photograph me," she said, " I need you to photograph my broken heart". In a trembling voice, she then went on sharing her entire story. As I was carefully listening to her, I was to understand that she was confronting something beyond a broken heart. She had gotten to the point of suffering, where also her mind, body, and soul were in extreme pain. She was in pieces.  

I was on it. I had to do it. For her sake but for mine as well. As it happened, during that same time, I, myself, was getting through the darkest moment of my life.  

So here in this project, we came together to express our bleeding hearts hoping that it will somehow heal us and relieve the pain. 

These images have nothing to do with the rest of my photographic work. They are not fashionable, they are not glamourous, and there is nothing beautiful about them. On the contrary, one might even find them quite ugly and disturbing. Depression isn't pretty, though. Day by day, it sucks our external and internal beauty. Eyes lose their flame and become empty, to only reflect the emptiness inside. 

Today, almost four years later, I am grateful and happy to say that it has been some time now that I and my friend, both managed to get through this dark place. Unfortunately, many are those who continue down the road of darkness where sanity and light become out of reach. With this project, I hope to bring some awareness to the mental health issue of today's society. Major traumatic experiences can trigger our fragile human minds and one should never be ashamed or scared to seek help.