Konrad Koźmiński

Konrad Koźmiński, born in 1989 in Kraków, Poland, is a photographer and a student at the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic. He is a member of the Rethinking Eastern Europe collective and is committed to documenting a changing world.

His work focuses on observing peripheral regions and exploring living folk traditions. He is particularly inspired by the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. He is the author and publisher of the photobooks With Ghosts and Souls (2026) and Jesienny Sens (2021). For many years, he has co-organised a photography club in a small district town.

„With ghosts and souls”

With Ghosts and Souls is about Bulgaria in one word, and driving away evil spirits in three. It is a story in which the cultural landscape intertwines with carnival masqueraders. Most commonly known as Kukeri, they are also called Survakari, Babugeri or Starci, depending on the region. According to tradition, their ritual actions drive away evil spirits, bring prosperity and bring good fortune to people and the land. Legend has it that the custom dates back several thousand years, to the time when the Thracians inhabited the territory of present-day Bulgaria.

The research underpinning this project is grounded in the phenomenon of religious and cultural syncretism: the interweaving and mutual influence of Orthodox Christian traditions and deeply rooted folk beliefs that reach back to Thracian and Greek cultural layers. Bulgaria, as a region particularly well suited to the study of these processes, bears traces of centuries of overlapping meanings and practices.