A black and white photo of an elderly woman and man standing close together indoors. The woman is wearing a headscarf, a sweater, and a skirt, holding a cane in her right hand. The man is wearing a patterned sweater over a collared shirt, with his right arm around the woman.

Faraway Songs is a six-year photographic journey through the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria, built through repeated encounters with the people who inhabit this ancient landscape. Rather than an ethnographic portrait of a community, the work searches for something universal through individual lives.

Margarita Rousso enters homes and private spaces, coming close without intruding. Portraits, interiors, landscapes and fleeting moments form an intimate archive in which each person retains their singularity. The elder, the lover, the solitary, the worker, the storyteller emerge not as types, but as individuals whose gestures and presence speak beyond a particular time and place.

Rooted in the Rhodopes, the series moves continually toward the universal: tenderness, solitude, humour, resilience, belonging and the human instinct for connection. Margarita Rousso’s visual language is direct and instinctive, moving between quiet observation and a sense of monumentality, allowing the world of the photographs to emerge through the people themselves.

Supported by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and the Hamemont Foundation, New York, Faraway Songs was exhibited in Bulgaria and internationally, including at Vivacom Art Hall, the City Art Gallery of Plovdiv, and the Bulgarian Cultural Institutes in Paris and London. The photographs and recorded narratives were later published in the bilingual book Faraway Songs — Images and Words from the Rhodopes.

FARAWAY SONGS

An elderly woman with a patterned headscarf sitting at a table with a vase of flowers, a clock, and a small food dish in a room with curtains and a calendar on the wall.
A black and white photo of an older man with weathered skin wearing a baseball cap and outdoors, holding a wooden walking stick, surrounded by trees and natural sunlight.
A black and white portrait of an elderly woman with light-colored hair pulled back, wearing large pearl earrings, a pearl necklace, and a floral patterned dark top. She gazes thoughtfully to her left.
Three people walking along a dirt road on a foggy day, surrounded by trees and mist.
Three children sitting on the ground, surrounded by a pile of logs, with one of them holding a cup.
An elderly woman sitting outdoors on a wooden bench, wearing a patterned headscarf and layered clothing, holding a cane, with a rustic stone and wood structure in the background.
Black shoes on a cracked concrete floor with a rough stone wall in the background and a gardening fork leaning against the wall.
An elderly man wearing a camouflage hat and jacket, smiling and covering part of his face with his hand, standing outdoors near a rustic building.
A person walking in a snowstorm at night, with snow falling heavily and obscuring the surroundings.
Black and white photo of an elderly woman with a patterned headscarf, sitting against a wall, with a thoughtful expression and hand on her chin.
Close-up of an elderly man wearing a baseball cap with the text 'FIGHT' and holding a wooden stick close to his face, with a serious expression.
A white horse standing near a river, surrounded by trees, in black and white.
Two elderly individuals sitting at a table in a casual dining setting. The man on the left is wearing a cap and a track jacket, holding a mug, looking left with a serious expression. The woman on the right is wearing a headscarf and coat, holding a p
Close-up black and white photograph of an elderly woman's face, showing her eyes, wrinkles, and smile, with her head tilted upward.
An elderly man standing inside a rustic room, smiling, with a stack of firewood and a fireplace behind him. The room has a poster on the wall and some decorations.
Black and white photograph of a flower with detailed petals and leaves.
A smiling elderly woman wearing a headscarf with a floral pattern, looking directly at the camera against a blurred stone wall background.
Black and white photograph of a forest with tall trees shrouded in fog.