Before the Color Falls

"Before the Color Falls" is a long-term photographic project examining the disappearing world of rose cultivation in Bulgaria. Rooted in cultural identity, the work traces a seasonal practice shaped by labor, memory, and continuity. Rosa damascena, the variety behind one of the world’s most precious rose oils, reveals a more fragile reality marked by economic pressure and a gradual withdrawal from cultivation. Photographed within the narrow window of the harvest, the series reflects a landscape undergoing change, where traditional practices are increasingly displaced by environmental shifts and expanding industrial land use.