The Local: Ira Zhivkova
Three essentials from a life in art.
Sofia always needs new spaces for art. Even more, it needs people who know how to give those spaces a purpose.
Meet Ira, a woman who turns ideas into something tangible and inspiration into somewhere to go. An artist at heart, she is the driving force behind the new gallery FIGURA Art Space. Her life combines management with making. Keeping the practical work and the creative life in balance takes discipline, and a few indispensable things. Here are hers.
The diary and the notebook
I genuinely can’t function without my calendar. Between running the gallery, a nine-to-five job, meetings with artists and organising events, my schedule is planned down to the minute. But alongside the orderly diary, there’s always a second notebook in my bag, a messier, more lively one.
It’s for ideas that won’t wait. I sketch new projects and jot down flashes of inspiration that later become exhibitions (in Bulgarian).
Kindle
Reading is a necessity for me, not simply a hobby. Home is overflowing with books, but since I can’t drag my entire library everywhere, an e-reader is the next best thing. I read on the move, on my way to work, in short breaks and always before bed. Right now, my companion is Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, a novel that speaks beautifully to an artist’s sensibility.
The knitting kit
Textile art is at the heart of my practice. I always carry a knitting kit. I believe working with your hands changes the way your brain works. I think differently once I start making something physical. Even if it’s just a simple scarf, by the time I’m knitting it I’ve had at least five more ideas for large textile sculptures. It’s how I meditate and turn concepts into something I can touch.
The Local: Aleksandar Lazarkov
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