Artwork
Craft
Historical past
Pictures
#Ashley Suszczynski
#costumes
#Europe
#Indigenous tradition
#masks
“Startsi,” Voynyagovo Village, Karlovo Municipality, Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria. All photographs © Ashley Suszczynski, shared with permission
As a baby, Ashley Suszczynski used to attract copiously in her faculty notebooks and escape into the chimerical worlds of books. “I beloved the imaginative illustrations,” she tells Colossal. “Every story despatched me into a brand new world, and I sort of dissociated from my very own… Each web page was stuffed with magic and thriller—an immersive journey into lands of legendary monsters, speaking animals, the bizarre and the fantastic.”
The fascination with legends and supernatural creatures endured into maturity, forming the premise of Suszczynski’s love for pictures, folklore, and cultures around the globe. “A number of years in the past, I realized a few masquerade within the north of Spain referred to as La Vijanera,” she says. “The characters regarded like these I had imagined from the pages of my childhood tales.” Anthropomorphic, fur-covered creatures met tree nymphs and spirits of the woodlands, all enrobed in remarkably elaborate handmade costumes.
Suszczynski delved into additional analysis about European masking rituals and rites, studying in regards to the vary of characters, historical past, and symbolism distinctive to every custom. Festivals all through the continent usually centered on frequent themes, just like the cycle of the seasons, life and dying, or fertility, whereas expressing themselves by means of distinctive costumes. “It appeared as if each tiny village had their very own distinctive historic rituals that have been nonetheless thriving in our trendy society,” she says.
Language limitations are sometimes the first impediment Suszczynski encounters as she travels around the globe to satisfy those that protect their native customs. In small, rural communities, folks usually solely communicate their native language. “There isn’t actually any info on the web about these teams,” she says. “Discovering them is at all times like a treasure hunt. Typically I might simply drive to a village, go to their city corridor with my cellphone, and Google Translate to the mayor, asking if they’d masks there. The townspeople have been extraordinarily useful; they’d usually set up the village group with solely a day or two discover.”
“Kukeri,” Kolarovo Village, Petrich Municipality, Blagoevgrad Province, Bulgaria
Among the characters Suszczynski meets in her ongoing travels embrace the Bulgarian Kukeri, variations on which can be referred to as Startsi or Chaushi, amongst others. Elaborate headdresses and costumes made out of wool, animal horns, embroidered cloth, bells, and different ornaments invoke the paranormal energy to usher in new seasons and scare away evil spirits.
Capturing the proper picture poses the following main problem, as Suszczynski works exhausting to make folks comfy regardless of not talking the identical language, and she or he has fashioned shut friendships within the course of. “After practically each photoshoot, we might wind up in somebody’s front room, sharing meals and brandy collectively, wanting by means of previous pictures, laughing, and studying,” she says.
Suszczynski emphasizes that her position, akin to the folks she pictures, is that of a storyteller. By means of a visible medium, she hopes to share information and understanding of age-old customs to additional the preservation efforts of their bearers. “I need to present folks how lesser-known cultures, relics, rites, and rituals have withstood time and developed in our ever-changing world,” she says.
This winter, Suszczynski is planning to {photograph} some festivals in Mexico and Latin America, and she or he simply completed up documenting the competition of Virgin del Carmen in Paucartambo, Peru. “I’m so grateful for each particular person I’ve photographed,” Suszczynski says. “I couldn’t do any of this with out their ardour and willingness to share their time, power, and tradition.”
Discover extra on the artist’s web site and Instagram. And you may also take pleasure in Killian Lassablière’s brief documentary “Kukeri” or Roberto de la Torre’s portraits of elaborately masked characters in northern Spain’s Entroidos.
“Kukeri,” Village of Opanets, Pleven Municipality, Bulgaria
“Chaushi,” Razlog, Blagoevgrad Province, Bulgaria
“Harramacho,” Navalacruz, Avila, Spain
“Vazovski Jumal,” Ivan Vazovo Village, Kaloyanovo Municipality, Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria
“Survakari,” Dolna Sekirna Village, Breznik Municipality, Bulgaria
“Tranga,” Bielsa, Huesca, Spain
#Ashley Suszczynski
#costumes
#Europe
#Indigenous tradition
#masks
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