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The Faces of the Invisible City

by Ivan Blazhev

Photographs: Ivan Blazhev

Publisher: Templum

108 pages

Year: 2010

ISBN: 978 – 9989 -189 – 79 - 1

Price: 25 €

Comments: Macedonian; 23,5 x 19 cm; wrapped in transparent paper

The Faces of the invisible city is a project intended as a journey through space and time in the capital of Macedonia - Skopje - which explores the different layers of the identity of the city, as well as its inhabitants. The project draws a portrait of Skopje based on the selection of the favorite or most important location in the city. Residents of the city, selected only by the requirement to be born after the big earthquake which struck Skopje in 1963, choose their most favorite or important location in the city, where they are photographed and additionally tell the reasons for choosing that particular location.

The official sites and big markers of the city, usually associated with the collective and group identity are avoided in this project. The project rather opts for an alternative, the “our”, the personal, invisible city. The narrative is built upon the connections between the personal stories of the residents and the current urban face, and it explores the relationship, and the transition, of public space into personal. The city is presented as a palimpsest in which personal stories are written, where one gets the feeling that in front of them is a puzzle of an intimate and personal Skopje, made up of desires, memories and reactions of its inhabitants. It is an effort to grasp the city through its fragments, a small street, school playground, rarely used staircase, a balcony over a boulevard, a hidden space between two buildings and the personal story that gives meaning to them.

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