Time does not recognise the sharpness of the image, the narrative or the feelings between us...
Neither the photography closest to my heart.
About me
I was born in 1983 in Bulgaria, and I currently reside in Sofia. My photography journey began in 2006, and it has remained my passion ever since.
Education
2008 - Master's degree in Camera work for Film and TV, Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar", Bulgaria
I was born in 1983 in Bulgaria, and I currently reside in Sofia. My photography journey began in 2006, and it has remained my passion ever since.
Education
2008 - Master's degree in Camera work for Film and TV, Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar", Bulgaria
Solo Exhibitions
2024 - "Trip to Azerbaijan", Cinema House, Sofia, Bulgaria
2020 - "Lone - scapes", Art gallery SABAI, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 - "Ars Longa Vita Brevis", European Month of Photography Bratislava, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Slovakia
2013 - "Artists on focus - Arslan Ahmedov", Modern Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
2024 - "Trip to Azerbaijan", Cinema House, Sofia, Bulgaria
2020 - "Lone - scapes", Art gallery SABAI, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 - "Ars Longa Vita Brevis", European Month of Photography Bratislava, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Slovakia
2013 - "Artists on focus - Arslan Ahmedov", Modern Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 - "Life as experiment. Photography as life", National Gallery - Sofia Arsenal -MCA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2020 - "Short stories", Labyrinth Art Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2013 - "Sfumato", Small season at Sfumato Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 - "The Portrait" by masters of the 20th century until now, Modern Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - "MOST – The finalists", Modern Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 - "Image, Light, Box", Anima Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2010 - "Impermanence", Daire Sanat Gallery, Istanbul, Türkiye
2010 - "Subjective Lenses", square National Theatre "Ivan Vazov", Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 - "Identities", Union of Bulgarian Artists - UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 - "The Thursday of the Marginals", Union of Bulgarian Artists - UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2007 - "Svetosila - group for contemporary photography", Curitiba, Brazil
2022 - "Life as experiment. Photography as life", National Gallery - Sofia Arsenal -MCA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2020 - "Short stories", Labyrinth Art Gallery, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2013 - "Sfumato", Small season at Sfumato Theatre, Sofia, Bulgaria
2013 - "The Portrait" by masters of the 20th century until now, Modern Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
2012 - "MOST – The finalists", Modern Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 - "Image, Light, Box", Anima Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2010 - "Impermanence", Daire Sanat Gallery, Istanbul, Türkiye
2010 - "Subjective Lenses", square National Theatre "Ivan Vazov", Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 - "Identities", Union of Bulgarian Artists - UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2008 - "The Thursday of the Marginals", Union of Bulgarian Artists - UBA, Sofia, Bulgaria
2007 - "Svetosila - group for contemporary photography", Curitiba, Brazil
Published Photography
2025 - Issue 22, Sadece Şiir (Only Poetry, magazine), photo: "A woman with the earring", Türkiye
2021 - Art studies quarterly magazine (4, 2020), Cover photo, Bulgaria
2015 - Annual Pictorial, Vol.II by Eyemazing Susan, book, ISBN 978-90-822754-1-4, Netherlands
2014 - Issue 3, Savremennik magazine, Bulgaria
2013 - Eyemazing, the New Collectable Art Photography, book, ISBN 9780500516850, Netherlands
2012 - Issue 4, EYEMAZING magazine, Netherlands
2011 - Issue 112, SHOTS magazine, USA
2010 - Issue 109, SHOTS magazine, USA
2009 - Issue 5, Calle20 magazine, Spain
2025 - Issue 22, Sadece Şiir (Only Poetry, magazine), photo: "A woman with the earring", Türkiye
2021 - Art studies quarterly magazine (4, 2020), Cover photo, Bulgaria
2015 - Annual Pictorial, Vol.II by Eyemazing Susan, book, ISBN 978-90-822754-1-4, Netherlands
2014 - Issue 3, Savremennik magazine, Bulgaria
2013 - Eyemazing, the New Collectable Art Photography, book, ISBN 9780500516850, Netherlands
2012 - Issue 4, EYEMAZING magazine, Netherlands
2011 - Issue 112, SHOTS magazine, USA
2010 - Issue 109, SHOTS magazine, USA
2009 - Issue 5, Calle20 magazine, Spain
Testimonials
Glitter in the darkness. A time stolen from its definition of which windy and ashen images emerge, dirty, blocked forever a moment before taking definitive form. This is the work of Bulgarian photographer Arslan Ahmedov.
Observing the photographs we feel the urgency of the capture, almost the goal is to imprison a volatile spirit otherwise unobtrusive and in whose struggle there can be no room for engagement rules: everything is just outlined as a sketch where the velocity of the tract assumes responsibility for the description of a whole figure. The grain is dusty, a superficial expedient in which the subject is transported in an astral dimension, dreamlike, while still maintaining a "body" assaulted by lightening allusions. There is a time and its opposite in the photographs of Ahmedov; each element compares with its double.[....]
Giuseppe Cicozzetti, (Italian writer and photo-critic)
July 2017
His portraits and still lifes are strongly influenced not only by the beauty of the pictorialist aesthetic, but, what is more profound, also by the essence of that aesthetic – symbolism, literature, poetry and mythology. It is sufficient to see some of the titles of his works – verses, quotations, biblical and mythological references. Such kind of individual approach, which is more serious than just searching for the spectacular vision, is not so common nowadays the more so contemporary photography is mainly sharp, direct, with references to reality and its social problems. The blurred faces of Arslan’s models are another distinguishing feature – they transform concrete persons into shadows, phantasms or dreams which bring into the viewer’s mind together tension and attraction, thrill and beautiful sadness. Each image is a story, and in the centre of all stories we can find the woman in all of her roles – the mother, the lover, the temptress, the muse... She is Arslan’s great inspiration. Or the love itself.
Katerina Gadjeva, (Ph. D in Art history)
November 2013
Arslan Ahmedov is a bulgarian photographer, he is also a friend, who has a wonderful range and depth of mind-which is instrumental in creating his images -these sometimes classical, sometimes literary- romantic and even a dry humor. His images concern themselves with portrait, landscape, still life and social. I like the female form and admire the manner in which Arslan photographs women- there is a subtle hint of sexuality in some of his images, yet it remains a part of the whole- not dominant or the model exploited, thus allowing a natural and truthful beauty to be revealed, which otherwise might not be seen. I also believe unlike many photographers Arslan has a clear idea of the truth in any shot, he doesn't seek to alter that in favor, therefor there is a poetry to his work.
John Lindus, (Artist)
May 2012