deyana stareva

Visual diaries

is a research art project conducted during an art residency on the Greek island of Spetses‭. ‬During the stay‭, ‬I have been collecting‭, ‬archiving and memorising stories‭, ‬species and flowers inherent to the island in the format of visual diaries with notes and sketches‭. ‬One of the notebooks assembles different flora species from the island‭. ‬Spetses has also been‭ ‬called the Isola di Spezzia‭, ‬the Island of Spices and flowers‭. ‬The different plants have been dried and catalogued with names and dates‭. ‬Further that I have experimented with plants and flora pigments printing techniques‭. ‬The project spontaneously continued after the residency‭. ‬Since then I am collecting new flora species‭, ‬printing them and lately‭ ‬embroidering them‭. ‬

How will people and plants live together in the future? As a precontext for all future works, a Herbarium was initiated and developed over the years. It began in early 2020, during a period of forced enclosure, when coexistence with natural life and plants became one of the few possible forms of connection. Urban and wild species were collected throughout the city of Stuttgart and the region of Baden-Württemberg.

At a time of growing ecological and political tensions, both nature and humans are increasingly in motion, searching for new forms of coexistence and exchange. This collected urban flora became the basis for a new series of embroideries and drawings, later applied onto felt through ink painting and continuously expanding onto new surfaces and through new media.

The specimens form a visual and tactile archive of urban nature and its knowledge. The work seeks to make tangible what is at stake when species disappear.

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deyana_stareva@hotmail.com