The exhibition of the photographer Ivan Stoimenov, called “If you gave” is at the People’s Community Center “Balkan Enlightener 1871” in Smolyan
Over 150 shots from the life of the great actor Stefan Danailov are shown in the exhibition “If you gave” by the photographer Ivan Stoimenov in Smolyan.
The exposition is arranged in the People’s Community Center “Balkan Enlightener 1871” and was opened yesterday, September 1. The community center is located in the Smolyan district “Raikovo” opposite the native house of Danailov’s grandfathers, and it is to this community center that the actor has made donations more than once.
Stoimenov owns thousands of pictures of Stefan Danailov Ivan Stoimenov Photo: Personal Profile on Facebook
He photographed him back in the 1980s as an actor for a magazine, then he photographed him as a minister, including his tour of Bulgaria in 2011, when Danailov was a candidate for vice president. “Then I saw how people greeted him and the idea came to me to show their love and how he gives himself to them,” recalls the photographer. Stefan Danailov with Academician Lyudmil Staykov
Since Stoimenov photographed Danailov also as a politician, minister, teacher, he has many shots of Lambo, as the actor was nicknamed. “I decided to make a selection about his attitude towards awards, colleagues and ordinary people,” Stoimenov says about his exhibition. The actor in the 80s
“A unique person, principled, did not share his ideas” – this is how the photographer describes Danailov.
The shots are arranged on 17 boards, and Stoimenov sought to have a certain meaning in each of them. The meeting of the actor with his former students and their children
Among the included photos is a very emotional moment – the meeting of Stefan Danailov with his former students and their children. “He gave them such a banquet and gave everyone gifts,” recalls Stoimenov. He also photographed Danailov’s final graduation, which he never managed to complete, as well as the funeral of his wife Maria. The last panel from the exhibition, entitled “If you gave… you did not live in vain”, after the song of the same name by Emil Dimitrov. The photos show Stefan Danailov sitting alone in the parliament (top right), the photo exhibition in the City Garden dedicated to the actor (top left), how people say goodbye to him in front of the National Theater and the grave covered with flowers.
The last panel from the exhibition is the most revealing, the photographer believes. It shows people’s forgiveness of the great actor, who left this world on November 27, 2019. After all, it was from this moment that he got the idea of how to present his exhibition and what meaning it should carry – “If you have given something, there will be who will put a flower on your grave”.
One of Stoimenov’s favorite moments with the actor are the evenings when they sat down at the table to talk after finishing work. “He wouldn’t let us pay, he always did,” says the photographer.
The photo exhibition “If you gave” was already presented in Sofia last December in the parliament. The exposition was organized in the People’s Representative’s Club and was part of the series of initiatives dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the great actor’s birth. And Vezhdi Rashidov, then the Speaker of the Parliament, opened the exhibition. But according to Stoimenov, no one noticed her then, including the deputies.
However, he has already received proposals from other exhibition halls in Smolyan to present his exposition, as well as from the capital community center.
In fact, Ivan Stoimenov had the idea to show the photo exhibition at NATFIZ.
2023-09-02 20:30:00
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