My most sincere apologies for being so silent this week. I’m currently in Stockholm where the lovely Sara and Magnus of IASPIS, an artist-in-residence program and institution that facilitate creative dialogues between artists from Sweden and from other countries, have scheduled 3 full days of seminars, meetings with graphic designers and visits to artists studios. So far it’s been incredibly interesting and i’m looking forward to spending more time on the blog and sharing my discoveries with you. In the meantime, some very light blogging will have to suffice since all my free time is spent hunting for that perfect second pair of Swedish Hasbeens. Clicking on the websites of people i’m meeting tomorrow i’ve discovered the work of Estelle Hanania.

Her freakish and irresistible photo series Parking Lot Hydra documents a traditional winter masquerade in Bulgaria that was originally aimed at frightening the evil spirits away but has now become way to welcome the new year. She observed the scene from a nearby parking lot where participants changed into their costumes and masks.

As she explained in an interview with Decathlon Books: The place is full of masked people, the masks go from cheap to very sophisticated. The music is loud, there’s lots of marching bands. Huge dusty trucks arrive in town where hundreds of crazy figures pour out of them. The rhythm of the procession is quite intense. Once it starts, it doesn’t stop, not until very late at night. My favorite moment is on the second day: very early in the morning. Streets are still trashed and messy from the day before, people are hungover but they keep dancing and singing, going deeper into the performance. They become wilder and even more dedicated to their costume and to the character they play. Incessant music comes from small bands performing everywhere in town. Most of the masked men seem to be in trance.

Regular service will resume on Sunday, thank you for your patience.