A mirror in Macedonia

de Neil Folberg

Drawn to Macedonia in 1971 by its vibrant folk culture, Neil Folberg received a fellowship from the University of California at Berkeley to spend five months photographing the land and people of this rugged, mountainous land, then part of Yugoslavia. Folberg's task was complicated by the police & state security services. In his essay, Folberg writes about the work, it's social and artistic context and of his conversations with the masters with whom he studied, photographers Ansel Adams and William Garnett. Looking back from a perspective of fifty years, Folberg writes, 'Where are all those anonymous people that I met, each with a story? Where are they today? They are all here, in these images. But here is the surprise: looking back through these windows I find a mirror reflecting myself, a 21-year-old student from Berkeley. I watch myself as I set up a tripod and camera in a public square, where people either flow around me or become engaged, attracted or repelled by my camera. Secret agents follow me, but I don't see them. I observe myself in the mirror of time.'