Gabrovtsi Art - Nature Symposium
Duppini Art Group Gabrovtsi, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
During my stay in Gabrovtsi, I was overwhelmed with various ideas and considered this an opportunity for experimentation. This experience made me expand my art practice. The focus of my explorations was the integration of my acts/actions, the woman-made, the cultural, into the natural. I was concerned with notions such as edges, limits, becoming, identity and the ephemeral. I reflected upon the “economy” of my actions and intervention into nature. In a way, I was looking for balance. How much do I interfere within the natural? What is the/my limit of changing the natural space? Is the work ever finished? Do I want to be finished? My works but also the works of the other artists made me reflect on the act of documentation, especially of ephemeral works.
My main project named “integration” was driven by my interest in bringing together singularities and expanding painting in a natural space. Magnetised by the natural beauty of the river I have chosen to make an intervention on the river side, which was visible from the bridge above. I cleaned the space, rearranged and re-assembled the stones in specific combinations, so that they “fit”, creating a kind of mosaic, and later on colored some of them with chalk (natural material). What can be achieved by this synergy? Me and the stones worked together in an endless process of becoming. This process of observing - arranging - re-assembling represents a union of fragments. Sole pieces, in this case the stones, supporting one another created a unified visual impression. Big, heavy, flat or little stones, all played a role in the wholeness.
Drawn on in the never ending processes of becoming, I reflected further on identity and physicality, my physical presence as a woman working in two main processes: the heavy lifting and arrangement of the stones at the river (large scale) and the delicate sawing of the moss (minimal scale) on the comfy sofa in the “common room”. A reciprocal relationship: an exchange of energy and support between two processes, was revealed to me, adding theoretical context to be further explored.
