Nostalgia, (be)longing, (dis)connection through textiles with Dessislava Terzieva
March 2023
As part of our investigation of the diverse engagements of fiber and textiles in creating art objects, we sat down with artist Dessislava Terzieva. A long-time friend of the gallery and fixture of Detroit’s contemporary art community, Terzieva creates an ever-evolving body of conceptual work with a broad range of materials. Each work is a deeply personal exploration of nostalgia, (be)longing, (dis)connection and authenticity, and one material comes to the fore: Textiles.
Carrying the meaning and weight of their prior life, such materials as a silk scarf, blouse or cut scrap of fabric become functional, Terzieva engaging them as storytellers in the rich narrative of each work.
Here, we present a collection of works curated for the range of techniques and applications of textiles and who better to share the story than Terzieva herself?
Stay curious,
IMW
Dessislava Terzieva
is a contemporary Bulgarian-American artist whose practice encompasses photography, sculpture, installation, public intervention and engaged performance.
Born at the sunset of the communist regime in Bulgaria, Terzieva’s process and material choices reflect growing up in the flux of radical change and material scarcity.
Self-taught through intuitive play and philosophical curiosity, she employs a utilitarian approach, improvising with pre-existing objects gathered from personal experience and immediate environments to explore concepts of nostalgia, (be)longing, (dis)connection and authenticity.
Her distinct visual language and conceptual investigations result from a lifetime of oscillation between two contrasting worlds: the east of her birth and the west of her migration.
Through the re-contextualization of materials embedded with symbolic and cultural connotations, she engages in an act of imaginative rediscovery that not only seeks to bridge gaps between time and space, but to establish the in-between state as a place unto itself.
The Collection
Modern Woman, 2020.
Clothing and textile scraps on wooden stretcher bars.
“This textile painting was made during the first lockdown. 2020 was the only year I didn’t make my annual pilgrimage to Bulgaria ever since immigrating to Michigan in 1997. After so many years of going back and forth, the stagnancy I felt in being stuck in one place, made me realize that this pilgrimage is like a muscle memory. The lack I felt without it was surprising, and I needed to find ways to bridge the gap. I took screenshots of my friends in Bulgaria’s stories that showcased street style, traditional garments, and other aesthetic moments specific to the location - the things that inspire and fuel my practice. I then recreated them into abstracted “paintings”, such as this, using textiles I had gathered over time. This one even features a bootleg Gucci scarf purchased at a flea market in Bulgaria.”
Only Grandma Can Judge Me, 2020
CCTV camera, scarf.
Sometimes a visual description surpasses the communicative capabilities of words…
When You Can’t Leave the Country - Build a Portal, 2020
Textiles, clothing, resin in plastic wash basin.
“The name says it all. When you can’t physically move, imaginatively transport yourself instead. I had a particular longing to be in my grandmother’s backyard. As a result, I took a commonplace object (wash basin) used for an everyday activity (doing laundry) and took it out of context. Rather than keeping it on the ground, I elevated it to the wall, changing its status and significance. The resin immortalizes the textiles, freezing the action in time and creating a textured landscape one can explore and get lost inside of.”
Alternative Domesticity, 2021
Clothing, resin, plastic basin.
“A continuation of the portal series, this time playing with the traditional gender roles. The laundry basket becomes obsolete, no longer being able to fulfill the purpose it originally has. Instead, it becomes a beautiful composition to add to a domestic environment. A celebration of beauty, femininity, with a twist."
The Interview
DT: My artistic practice began with paper, scissors, an X-acto knife, and glue. Although it has evolved to include an ever-growing array of materials and processes, I am, at the core, a collage artist: I take things that already exist and reimagine them into something new. Oftentimes, materials find me, rather than the other way around. Because I have a nondiscriminatory relationship with them and an openness to explore, I give myself a lot of room to play. I am interested in things that have a history. Things that once served a purpose but are no longer desired by their original consumer.
Garments entered my installation practice several years ago as placeholders for the physical form in creating environments that told a narrative of an absent human. They continue to exist in this matter, (i.e. Only Grandma Can Judge Me), but have also evolved beyond figurative representation into serving as a replacement for other materials, such as paint (i.e. Modern Woman). Once again, I am collaging - taking disparate pieces of textiles and recombining them into a new, hybrid entity which then takes on a new independent life.
The process of combining textiles and resin takes this fascination in rebirth into a new realm. Here, the reaction of both materials combining transforms the textiles completely - they become more like stained glass and less like their original form. I enjoy the transformation that something, or someone, has in a new environment, I am interested in the elements that remain the same - the core - and the difference of expression brought about by change.
IMWG: How do textile/fibers fit into your practice? How do you use them? Why do you use them?
IMWG: As a gallery focused on craft disciplines and handmade objects, we are curious about your ideas on “the value of a handmade object” and how your work engages explores these ideas …
DT: I’m a very analog person - I need to work directly with my hands in order to understand and relate to something. Within the process are many trials, errors, and happy accidents that could not have occurred had everything been streamlined into a more clean-cut fabrication. The materials have their own qualities which surprise me and many times take me into a direction which I had not planned or imagined possible. Works made by hand hold the energy of the hands that processed it, along with the untold narrative between artisan and product.
While mass-produced items are often the beginning source of my creations, they undergo an alchemic reconfiguration and become unique, one-of-a-kind pieces with a continued lifespan which was never part of their original trajectory.