[memory map FA-09] // animated digital work
[memory map FA-09] // animated digital work

How our memory of places looks like over time.

// animated digital artwork // 2024
// available on my webshop

 Between November 2023 and January 2024, I had a series of spasms in the area of the heart/stomach which happened usually while I was walking on the street. Those deeply disturbing symptoms were so regular, that did not allow me to walk much, not to

Between November 2023 and January 2024, I had a series of spasms in the area of the heart/stomach which happened usually while I was walking on the street. Those deeply disturbing symptoms were so regular, that did not allow me to walk much, not to mention do any kind of sports. After visiting several doctors, doing many medical checks, no doctor could have found the reason for those spasms. Thus, I had to deal with them on my own and find my own way to heal. After experimenting and self-researching, I figured it was something connected to my gullet and stomach, hence my GERD illness (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

Reflecting on that experience, frustrated for not being able to understand what exactly caused them and why they stopped, I see them now as glitches. I was trying out different ways to visualise them, to explain them - to myself, to the doctors. But no illustration felt right until I saw them as bugs, as errors, as malfunctions, as tired code, as glitches, when the body’s system is blocked somewhere and the balance is disturbed.

// digital art // feb 2024
// write to me if interested in getting a print
// buy digital artwork here

[this is not a border]
[this is not a border]

Nicosia (Lefkosia) is divided by the ‘green line’ forming two opposite sides: the Greek-majority Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) - a proto-state recognised only by Turkey.

This line divides the city in two and if you want to go on the other side you need to pass by one of the checkpoints. When you enter the Turkish part (as people call it in short in their informal speech), your phone connects to a Turkish mobile operator. And the roaming says you are in Turkey.

// digital illustration, 2024

[cars in Cyprus]
[cars in Cyprus]

cars vs. cars in Cyprus

// digital illustration, 2024

[лека телесна повреда] // [minor injury]
[лека телесна повреда] // [minor injury]

A man assaulted a 18-year-old Bulgarian girl: he had her arms, legs and chest cut with paper cutter, her nose broken, and all her hair cut with a clipper. The doctors made 400 stitches. The judge set the man free because what he did was ruled as a “minor injury”. Here you see 400 stitches - is this a “minor injury”? If the law says so, the law must be changed.

The thought of this gets my blood boil. The way we react to something like this shows us in what kind of society we are living. The way the institutions that are responsible to find ways to prevent such acts to happen in the future react shows us what kind of future awaits us. Until we change something.

// digital illustration // rotterdam, 2023 // license: CC4.0 - use it as you wish by giving appropriate credit
// remember to be mindful to her trauma and shock when talking about this subject and sharing content
// download from here [square] & here [full frame] & read more about it here

[once you cross the ocean]
[once you cross the ocean]

Once You Cross the Ocean is a groundbreaking documentary solo performance created by Bulgarian theater-maker Martina Novakova. It investigates how we recreate our culture and ourselves in a foreign sociocultural context and what image we would like for Bulgaria to have abroad. Through the use of verbatim theater techniques, the exact recreation of words and gestures, Novakova brings to life the stories of six well-known Bulgarian artists living in New York creating a universal narrative that anyone who has left their homeland can relate to.

The illustration and poster of the performance depict the journey from the two worlds on the two sides of the ocean. The faces are pieces of land that mirror each other, but the vision is always distorted from the various points of view. On which side of the map are you?

// digital illustration // 2023 // all rights reserved [commissioned work]

[art school]
[art school]

This illustration was firstly doodled on a piece of paper during a class I had at the Piet Zwart Institute in 2021. On the other side of the academy, there is an older building and from my window I could see one of the studios there. Inside there was an eisel, but somehow I didn’t want to draw it even though it was an important element. I wanted to depict the endless rain that pouring and how everything else becomes invisible behind its glass wall. That is why I wrote. I kept that piece of paper and made a digital illustration of it in march 2023.

// digital illustration // 2021-2023 // rotterdam

[you cannot have it all in one day]
[you cannot have it all in one day]

this illustration is a result of some reflections triggered by the movie The Map of Tiny Perfect Things [2021]. While the main characters were looking for all of the perfect things happening in a day they live over and over again, i was thinking of how difficult it is to be present in the moment while so many things are happening at the same time. Oftentimes, it is simply impossible to have at all within this short time frame - a day, a year, a life.

/ digital illustration / 2023

[precarity II: make the ends meet]
[precarity II: make the ends meet]

illustration, part of series of 2 pieces on the precarious life of an artist. Living in a constant insecurity became an essential part of our lives slowly and unnoticeably. It is becoming impossible to plan your income ahead and since recently - even your expenses. Do we even manage to make the ends meet or we’re always in debt to someone?

/ digital illustration / 2022

[accepting rotterdam: 01_ arrival]
[accepting rotterdam: 01_ arrival]

[01_ arrival] is the first of 10 illustration, created as a diary of ten phases i experienced when moving to a new city. The works were digitally drawn, then computer processed with various effects. Their animated versions are available on NFT and the works are published alongside short poems here. [01_ arrival] is also available on riso print and postcards.

[safe space] 1
[safe space] 1

What is a “safe space”? There are at least a few points of view to look at it - physical, metaphorical… But what if we look at it as a collective contract of ways to connect with each other, to listen and respond? Mary Ann Hunter finds it interesting when seen as “rules of engagement that scaffold the creation of new work and, somewhat paradoxically, invite a greater degree of aesthetic risk.” What makes it safe in such case then? Maybe it is the trust in the others, the connection and the lack of fear of being judged and mocked.

digital illustration, animated // 2023 // rotterdam

longing
longing

digital illustration of missing someone you love / 2022 / rotterdam, the netherlands // available on riso print here

lost in translation: течение
lost in translation: течение

draught [in bulgarian течение] is a word used to describe the cool air in a room or other confined space when two windows or doors are open at the same time. According to elderly people in bulgaria, it will cause you a chill and you should close the cool air source or put a blanket ;-) / 2022

[it all started]
[it all started]

illustration of a short story by Kristiāna N. at a RE:Writing workshop at WdKA / 2021 / rotterdam, the netherlands

the thousand-foot journey
the thousand-foot journey

in 2021 I travelled more than 5500 km around Europe. I got to test how is it to pass so many borders after a year of travel difficulties, restrictions and worry.

What a journey! It was full of emotions - anxiety, excitement, fear, happiness… Each stop was filled with those and therefore, I coloured them. To see them. My journey is depicted as tree branches, growing to the final destination of my trip - Rotterdam. Or it is a spilled ink on the map… Or something else that you see?

2021 / europe

[keep our trees safe]
[keep our trees safe]

'keep our trees safe' was my submission for the creative challenge organised by TED & Fine Acts artists for countdown. / not selected / 2021 / budapest, hungary / available on nft

[don’t look at me like that]
[don’t look at me like that]

Illustration of Parwana Amiri’s poem don’t look at me like that / Published by the Brush&Bow / 2021

[mental pain: clouds in the head]
[mental pain: clouds in the head]

first piece of a triptych about how i went through a burnout in april-may 2021 / the piece was published by podslon magazine in 2021 / sofia, bulgaria

[how hard]
[how hard]

illustration of Parwana Amiri’s poem how hard, published on Brush & Bow here.

[arrival in lebanon]
[arrival in lebanon]

illustration for Winnie Linet article My name is Winnie, I survived Lebanon’s kafala system, published on Open Democracy / 2020

[bedroom in brussels]
[bedroom in brussels]

part of the lockdown series / 2020 / brussels, belgium

[crown shyness I]
[crown shyness I]

part of series of 3 pieces / participated in exhibition in the halley gallery [london, uk] in september-october 2021 / 2020

[memory map FA-09] // animated digital work
 Between November 2023 and January 2024, I had a series of spasms in the area of the heart/stomach which happened usually while I was walking on the street. Those deeply disturbing symptoms were so regular, that did not allow me to walk much, not to
[this is not a border]
[cars in Cyprus]
[лека телесна повреда] // [minor injury]
[once you cross the ocean]
[art school]
[you cannot have it all in one day]
[precarity II: make the ends meet]
[accepting rotterdam: 01_ arrival]
[safe space] 1
longing
lost in translation: течение
[it all started]
the thousand-foot journey
[keep our trees safe]
[don’t look at me like that]
[mental pain: clouds in the head]
[how hard]
[arrival in lebanon]
[bedroom in brussels]
[crown shyness I]
[memory map FA-09] // animated digital work

How our memory of places looks like over time.

// animated digital artwork // 2024
// available on my webshop

Between November 2023 and January 2024, I had a series of spasms in the area of the heart/stomach which happened usually while I was walking on the street. Those deeply disturbing symptoms were so regular, that did not allow me to walk much, not to mention do any kind of sports. After visiting several doctors, doing many medical checks, no doctor could have found the reason for those spasms. Thus, I had to deal with them on my own and find my own way to heal. After experimenting and self-researching, I figured it was something connected to my gullet and stomach, hence my GERD illness (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

Reflecting on that experience, frustrated for not being able to understand what exactly caused them and why they stopped, I see them now as glitches. I was trying out different ways to visualise them, to explain them - to myself, to the doctors. But no illustration felt right until I saw them as bugs, as errors, as malfunctions, as tired code, as glitches, when the body’s system is blocked somewhere and the balance is disturbed.

// digital art // feb 2024
// write to me if interested in getting a print
// buy digital artwork here

[this is not a border]

Nicosia (Lefkosia) is divided by the ‘green line’ forming two opposite sides: the Greek-majority Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) - a proto-state recognised only by Turkey.

This line divides the city in two and if you want to go on the other side you need to pass by one of the checkpoints. When you enter the Turkish part (as people call it in short in their informal speech), your phone connects to a Turkish mobile operator. And the roaming says you are in Turkey.

// digital illustration, 2024

[cars in Cyprus]

cars vs. cars in Cyprus

// digital illustration, 2024

[лека телесна повреда] // [minor injury]

A man assaulted a 18-year-old Bulgarian girl: he had her arms, legs and chest cut with paper cutter, her nose broken, and all her hair cut with a clipper. The doctors made 400 stitches. The judge set the man free because what he did was ruled as a “minor injury”. Here you see 400 stitches - is this a “minor injury”? If the law says so, the law must be changed.

The thought of this gets my blood boil. The way we react to something like this shows us in what kind of society we are living. The way the institutions that are responsible to find ways to prevent such acts to happen in the future react shows us what kind of future awaits us. Until we change something.

// digital illustration // rotterdam, 2023 // license: CC4.0 - use it as you wish by giving appropriate credit
// remember to be mindful to her trauma and shock when talking about this subject and sharing content
// download from here [square] & here [full frame] & read more about it here

[once you cross the ocean]

Once You Cross the Ocean is a groundbreaking documentary solo performance created by Bulgarian theater-maker Martina Novakova. It investigates how we recreate our culture and ourselves in a foreign sociocultural context and what image we would like for Bulgaria to have abroad. Through the use of verbatim theater techniques, the exact recreation of words and gestures, Novakova brings to life the stories of six well-known Bulgarian artists living in New York creating a universal narrative that anyone who has left their homeland can relate to.

The illustration and poster of the performance depict the journey from the two worlds on the two sides of the ocean. The faces are pieces of land that mirror each other, but the vision is always distorted from the various points of view. On which side of the map are you?

// digital illustration // 2023 // all rights reserved [commissioned work]

[art school]

This illustration was firstly doodled on a piece of paper during a class I had at the Piet Zwart Institute in 2021. On the other side of the academy, there is an older building and from my window I could see one of the studios there. Inside there was an eisel, but somehow I didn’t want to draw it even though it was an important element. I wanted to depict the endless rain that pouring and how everything else becomes invisible behind its glass wall. That is why I wrote. I kept that piece of paper and made a digital illustration of it in march 2023.

// digital illustration // 2021-2023 // rotterdam

[you cannot have it all in one day]

this illustration is a result of some reflections triggered by the movie The Map of Tiny Perfect Things [2021]. While the main characters were looking for all of the perfect things happening in a day they live over and over again, i was thinking of how difficult it is to be present in the moment while so many things are happening at the same time. Oftentimes, it is simply impossible to have at all within this short time frame - a day, a year, a life.

/ digital illustration / 2023

[precarity II: make the ends meet]

illustration, part of series of 2 pieces on the precarious life of an artist. Living in a constant insecurity became an essential part of our lives slowly and unnoticeably. It is becoming impossible to plan your income ahead and since recently - even your expenses. Do we even manage to make the ends meet or we’re always in debt to someone?

/ digital illustration / 2022

[accepting rotterdam: 01_ arrival]

[01_ arrival] is the first of 10 illustration, created as a diary of ten phases i experienced when moving to a new city. The works were digitally drawn, then computer processed with various effects. Their animated versions are available on NFT and the works are published alongside short poems here. [01_ arrival] is also available on riso print and postcards.

[safe space] 1

What is a “safe space”? There are at least a few points of view to look at it - physical, metaphorical… But what if we look at it as a collective contract of ways to connect with each other, to listen and respond? Mary Ann Hunter finds it interesting when seen as “rules of engagement that scaffold the creation of new work and, somewhat paradoxically, invite a greater degree of aesthetic risk.” What makes it safe in such case then? Maybe it is the trust in the others, the connection and the lack of fear of being judged and mocked.

digital illustration, animated // 2023 // rotterdam

longing

digital illustration of missing someone you love / 2022 / rotterdam, the netherlands // available on riso print here

lost in translation: течение

draught [in bulgarian течение] is a word used to describe the cool air in a room or other confined space when two windows or doors are open at the same time. According to elderly people in bulgaria, it will cause you a chill and you should close the cool air source or put a blanket ;-) / 2022

[it all started]

illustration of a short story by Kristiāna N. at a RE:Writing workshop at WdKA / 2021 / rotterdam, the netherlands

the thousand-foot journey

in 2021 I travelled more than 5500 km around Europe. I got to test how is it to pass so many borders after a year of travel difficulties, restrictions and worry.

What a journey! It was full of emotions - anxiety, excitement, fear, happiness… Each stop was filled with those and therefore, I coloured them. To see them. My journey is depicted as tree branches, growing to the final destination of my trip - Rotterdam. Or it is a spilled ink on the map… Or something else that you see?

2021 / europe

[keep our trees safe]

'keep our trees safe' was my submission for the creative challenge organised by TED & Fine Acts artists for countdown. / not selected / 2021 / budapest, hungary / available on nft

[don’t look at me like that]

Illustration of Parwana Amiri’s poem don’t look at me like that / Published by the Brush&Bow / 2021

[mental pain: clouds in the head]

first piece of a triptych about how i went through a burnout in april-may 2021 / the piece was published by podslon magazine in 2021 / sofia, bulgaria

[how hard]

illustration of Parwana Amiri’s poem how hard, published on Brush & Bow here.

[arrival in lebanon]

illustration for Winnie Linet article My name is Winnie, I survived Lebanon’s kafala system, published on Open Democracy / 2020

[bedroom in brussels]

part of the lockdown series / 2020 / brussels, belgium

[crown shyness I]

part of series of 3 pieces / participated in exhibition in the halley gallery [london, uk] in september-october 2021 / 2020

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