Presiana Shisheva – Bulgaria – Visual Arts and Installations
https://presianashisheva.wordpress.com/
Presiana Shisheva is a Contemporary Crafts graduate from Falmouth University in the UK. She returns to Bulgaria with the idea to apply the knowledge she gained abroad in her homeland. The main theme in her art works is the relationship between contemporary society and nature. Her recent work is inspired by traditional Bulgarian crafts and folklore patterns.
Ritual Art – Time and Space
Healing Hut – Today’s Ritual Show
I was very lucky to be part of this year’s Old School Residency in Gorna Lipnica. I interpreted the theme in two different ways and created 2 bodies of work. One was an outdoors site specific sculpture, the other consisted of two figurative sculpture that will be part of the travelling exhibition of the residency.
Healing Hut is the title of the 4 metre –high hut, that I build in the yard of the old school in Gorna Lipnitsa. The hut looks like an ordinary pile of straw, except that it has an entrance and an exit. The viewer is invited to walk through the spiral tunnel inside the hut and by doing this to leave behind everything negative from his life. This ritual act reminds of a traditional Bulgarian ritual called “squeezing” in which people wriggle through a narrow space in order to lock behind illnesses.
Today’s Ritual Show
The two figures are performing a contemporary ritual, concerning contemporary issues. They are inspired by real models from fashion shows. The combination of natural and industrial materials in this work plays an important role in the concept of the piece – the legs of the figures are made out of charred branches set in concrete and plaster; their heads are wrapped in plastic.
