Given your personal connection to Bulgaria and the recent passing of your father, how do you envision navigating the virtual residency experience? How might this digital platform provide a unique opportunity to connect with the Balkans atmosphere and continue your artistic exploration?

The interaction and interference during the Zoom session create a virtual intimacy where we face the new artists we meet. In the residency in progress, we’re responding to what we’re listening, seeing, and reading. And I congratulate the art leader for the way of monitoring it that I already observed.

My reaction and emotional outburst regarding my father’s recent passing, the residency presents a challenging opportunity to review some of the visual memories I got from the Lockdown time and create new bridges with the past and present in time, exploring more of the Balkans atmosphere and fleeting ideas soon. Remember that my dad’s family moved to Bulgaria from Štip, Macedonia, and he had his own story connected to the Balkans.

The residency advertisement inspired a new approach to the theme for your project “NITE LITES.” Could you share insights into how this residency has influenced the evolution of your project, especially in terms of using different media alongside painting and drawings?

First, it made me resume some of my recent visual research. Second, a flock of ideas is already pushing to a new work. Third, it ignited interest in delving deeper into the migration of ideas, images, and influence. It presumes a movement and fluctuation in the imagery I am tempted to present in an installation project.

In the meantime, I’m back to painting/drawing, too, with some of the imagery I develop from photos, and I’m trying to work it out on my own terms.

Your current artistic preoccupation focuses on women’s sense of belonging and engagement in artistic creativity during times of crisis. How has this theme evolved in your recent work, and what specific elements or experiences have influenced your exploration of women’s retention bridging inner and outer space characteristics?

This residency is time-centred on my artist painter practice, but I am open eyes and ears to the other artists’ voices and observe the following steps to my postponed closure for the replies to my artists’ call The Mask and Me. Some artists who have shown interest in giving another go delve in from a feminist point of view or just identify and delve into their own women’s experience.

Your work involves emotional catharsis and resilience tips to endure hardship. Can you elaborate on how these themes manifest in your art, and what messages or insights do you hope viewers gain from your exploration of resilience in times of crisis?

For me, an artwork/painting, video, or installation has its own autonomic journey while spreading its wings far away from its creator’s thought. Once it enters the public sphere, the monologue becomes a dialogue and discussion. It’s not about me; artwork in any form/genre has been a natural creative personal reply in times of crisis. It finds its answers and active members or followers. As it’s known for a while now by many artists, The Balkans is bursting with ideas and emotions for many stories and artworks. I would like to offer a new leaf of hope, a silver line in the future. Artworks and any creative input have particular features. They could be content with something blunt we’re hiding from ourselves.

Your objective is to explore how women’s artistry in times of crisis reflects and contributes to communication and self-esteem. How do you perceive the connection between inner space and outer space in the context of your work, and how does this bridge the retention of memories in shifting environments?

I am still trying to elaborate on the wording of it. But I plan to sort a few ideas visually in some new works/paintings and video shots. The brilliance of the painting is in the physical touch for me and a history of their own. The video work gives it a different measurement and reconnection to its visual sources. I hope that is the response at present.

Your artist statement mentions observation, reflection, and apprehension of the scene. Can you delve deeper into your creative process, especially when capturing moments of ambiguous reality? How do you translate these observations into your paintings and mixed media work? 

With a lot of work and research, some details affect me and make me feel unsettled. It sounds like a short reply but hides the flight and fright movement between the visible and invisible in the creation in progress.

What are your aspirations for the future direction of your artistic exploration? Are there specific themes, mediums, or projects you are eager to delve into, building upon the experiences gained during the residency?

The Balkans is a theme I already started to explore some moments, made a pause, and life returned me to solve my own puzzles somehow for a while. I’ve been concentrating on memories and art for a while now. Started with self-addressed, s’Elf-addressed and moved to a less private space. Nature and wo/the man-made environment trigger my response, delving into the past, present, and future. In painting, it’s one way; in video, it’s different. And honestly, I’m in debt to photography, too. I always say painting first for a while now. But one genre evolves in the other expression, and it’s about the human mind, soul, and spirit while we’re trying to achieve the impossible.