Before the Soviets occupied Bulgaria in 1944, at the most only the richest Bulgarians had a photo camera. After the occupation began the communists took control of public visual communication. Photography was allocated a central place in the propaganda machine. The images of THE UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER, found in the garbage in 1990, show how an anonymous photographer did what was expected of him. Idyllic images of modern workers and public parades predominate. Group portraits emphasise solidarity. Even in the case of activities involving one or two persons, several more workers are depicted. People posed in their Sunday best. Everything went to create an image as perfect as it was empty, while the atrocities that really took place, such as mass murders and work camps, went undocumented.

Svetlana Bahchevanova (b. Bulgaria, 1958) has worked for eighteen years as a photojournalist. She took part in the underground democratic movement in communist Bulgaria, and extensively documented the transition to a free society. For the last six years she has lived in New York. Bahchevanova is also represented in Transition, another component of Behind Walls.