I always tend to start from the end, or from my idea of what the end result should look like, and then work my way towards the beginning. For “The Great Bela Rechka Fashion Show,” I had a very clear idea for how to place these wonderful old ladies into a fashion context. Fashion is inherently an urban phenomenon, so it is interesting to put it in a different environment that is totally disconnected from fashion.
I also realized that, as a fashion designer, I had never before made clothes for women over 60 who live in the countryside. The project was secretly dedicated to my grandmother, Mama Mia, who used to make clothes as well. My own first attempts at sewing actually took place with her Lucznik sewing machine, which also became one of the main participants in the project.
The project was informed by one of the leading concepts of the GOATMILK Festival in the village of Bela Rechka, which is to serve as “a meeting point for people who usually don’t mix to discuss personal and collective memories.”
Manifesta 14, Self-splaining (a Triumph of Empathy)
Publication in The Art Newspaper
Workshop/Lecture at the Makers Spaces with Mariela Gemisheva & Venera Mustafa
