Before the color falls

If paradise exists, it smells of Rosa damascena.

Before the Color Falls is a project about the people behind the rose fields and the uncertain future of a national symbol. Prized for its essential oil, Rosa damascena belongs to the world of fine perfumery and cosmetics. Behind this luxury lies a livelihood on the edge of survival.

At the heart of the story are pickers from Roma communities whose families have worked in the rose fields for generations. Many have picked roses since childhood. The brief harvest, lasting two to three weeks, offers an opportunity to earn money that fills substantial gaps in household budgets. Today, this support is increasingly uncertain. As rose fields fall into neglect and seasonal work diminishes, families lose a vital source of income and a connection passed down through generations.

Financial uncertainty, labour shortages, and climate change are making rose cultivation increasingly precarious. In Bulgaria’s Rose Valley, land ideally suited to roses lies abandoned or gives way to cereal crops and solar farms. The landscape, the work, and people’s place within them are changing. The rose is gradually losing its home, while those who have tended it are losing some of the means to remain in theirs.

Born of nostalgia, love for this flower, and attachment to my land and its people, the project gathers their stories into a visual archive of a changing world. What remains of paradise when there is less and less room for what makes it paradise?