BORYANA PETKOVA | NO BLOOD RELATIONS

Sofia Arsenal – Museum of Contemporary Art
In previous years, Boryana Petkova’s artistic practice was focused on performative drawing, presenting the energy of the creative act as a gesture towards understanding the context in which the work takes place. The artist’s hand movements outlined, in pencil, and on various surfaces, her desire to reach and master the physical territories of subjective personal space. Exploring the boundaries—those we inflict on ourselves and those externally imposed on us—as part of her artistic philosophy, personifies the natural human urge in search of our hidden essence. Petkova’s latest performances are a natural continuation of this practice; her body is no longer simply a tool for expressing ideas, but an object of analysis; and the overcoming of limitations is achieved through sinking into the deep layers of her personal story. The two performances that form the basis of the exhibition in the SAMCA gallery draw the lines of the subjective geography that begins in childhood and shapes the present.
In Nо Blood Relations, Boryana Petkova uncompromisingly presents a hidden part of her inner world, one that we usually suppress and do not reveal to others. In this way, she places her practice at the centre of the debate about the role and meaning of art as a tool in the pursuit of truth and the price an artist is willing to pay.
Curated by Irina Batkova.
With the partnership of the French Embassy / French
Institute in Bulgaria, Art Project Depot and MK Production.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency.