Blagovesta Semkova
“SON” is an intimate visual journey about my autistic child- and about the silent transformation of a mother learning to accept, understand, and love beyond expectations. The project combines personal documentary with poetic black-and white imagery to explore difference, connection, and emotional resilience. These photographs reflect a quiet, often invisible world where daily rituals become moments of tenderness, and where love grows slowly, painfully- and truly.
Blagovesta Semkova is a photographer based in rural Bulgaria, where she raises four children on an autonomous farm and teaches art in a large Roma school. She began her artistic career as a painter, but discovered photography in 2022 and transitioned to a visual language that is a both deeply personal and socially engaged. Her work explores motherhood, difference, and human vulnerability, shaped by her experience of raising an autistic child. In 2025 she won the Profifoto New Talent Award and received support from the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria for her first solo exhibition. Semkova completed the full program at BECA Photo Academy (educational partner of Magnum Photos) and took part in workshops with Olivia Arthur, Cristina de Middel, Rafal Milach and Peter van Agtmael. Her style is defined by strong black-and-white contrast, emotional sincerity, and quiet observation. Trough photography, she finds a way to speak about love, struggle, and the silent realities many live but few see.
As a mother of an autistic child, i learned to see through silence , repetition and a kind of beauty that doesn’t follow rules. Photography became my way of listening- not with ears, but with the eyes and the heart. I turned to the camera when words failed. What began as a desperate need to understand my son grew into a visual language of love, patience, and recognition.
This project is not only about autist, bur about motherhood in its most vulnerable form- the part we often hide. It speaks of fear, guilt, the unbearable feeling of failure, and the slow, tender rebuilding of a bond that feels impossible at first. Through black-and-white images, srtipped of distraction, i invite viewers into a world that is chaotic, ritualistic- and full of light.
I am drawn to personal and socially engaged narratives – stories that often remain unseen or misunderstood.
This work contributes to a broader visual conversation by making visible what is rarely represented- the silent emotional labor of mother, and the dignity of those who live outside the norms.
her photographic practice is deeply rooted in lived experience. Az a mother of four and a teacher in a marginalized Rome community, she uses the camera to explore fragility, resilience, and the spaces between visibility and silence. She believed in the power of long- term personal projects to create empath and perception. Currently, she is developing a new body of work that explores the trauma of displacement and the silent strength of young ferugees.
In 2025, i received a debut grant the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria and opened my first solo exhibition “SON” in Sofia. The same year, the project was awarded the Profifoto New Talent Award, exhibited at the Oberstdorf Photo Summit in Germany, and featured in Profifoto Magazine. A photobook dummy of “SON” is currently in development.
In 2024, i participated in a group exhibition in Sofia as part of the graduation show of the BECA Photo Academy master’s program.
