St George is a Saint to Many

St George 6th May A story from Celebrations

The search for the St George story started with what are my demons? 

What would be the dragon that we all want to slaughter? 

What is our biggest fear?

For centuries the answer to this question would have been- bad health. So for me the story became the ritual of killing all illnesses with one heroic gesture. The dragons in this story are viruses. So the story is sculptures of the viruses slaughtered by a doctor. Viruses as living organisms are still both a challenge and a mystery regardless of our scientific advances. Doctors as part of the current perception of ''The Establishment'' are often held hostage to our perception of them being heroes rather than humans.  Here the concept of small and significant are juxtaposed using scientific concepts to mirror our own fears. As viruses are necessary ingredient to life on our planet the destruction of them explores what is an act of heroism and an act of fear? The interrelation between personal fears - our vulnerability and how they influence macro decisions related to health and life.  It is also a dialogue of what makes an object beautiful to us- its form or its function?

The rest of the art work is a metro style deconstructed top, a scarf of red blood cells and a red belt- to show the red cross that stands on the St. George's shield.

George is a student of medicine from Trinity College Dublin. He came for a fitting and we straight away fell for his Dr Mike type of charm and good looks. He was a wonderful model- generous with his time, beautiful and graceful. I asked him how he describes himself as he has been living in Ireland since he was 10 - longer here, than in Bulgaria and has been through many formative experiences here. Among a group from the Bulgarian community his answer was : ''Bulgarian'', but I wonder... His girlfriend is Irish, and I am not sure he had plans to be living in Bulgaria any time soon. 

The story of St. George sparked up most conversations during the showing of the exhibition. It seems that it is transient  with who ''owes'' St. George. Obviously the first problem I encountered were certain Irish friends- why would I dare to include the ''English'' saint in the Celebrations? Trying to discuss that he is Not English, was a long conversation, but at least not as hard one as the one I had with some Bulgarians when I explained that St. George is celebrated by the Roma community in Bulgaria and he was born a Jew. As for most Bulgarians St George is the saint of the Army.

Eventually, I realised that in many ways St. George stands for the male privilege culture which sees treat where none is meant.  

My hope, with his cross and the die hard attitude maybe we would soon start accepting him for one of the worriers of healing.

Celebrations profiles the evolving makeup of community through change - geographical, cultural and personal. Each festival and custom is reflected and manifested in a combination of felt art and photography. The models are members of the Bulgarian community- each has a personal connection to the celebration they represent.

Celebrations is Niki Collier’s response to our fear of change. Her felt artwork is created to send us a positive message of growth, change and strength. It is her act to shift our personal and collective boundaries towards empathy and acceptance.

Niki Collier is an award-winning visual artist and designer based in Dublin. Her work is regularly exhibited in curated exhibitions and design shops around the world. www.nikicollier.com

Ivo Petrov is a photographer based in Kildare. bayivobg70.wixsite.com/ivphoto

Support

The project was commissioned for the Bulgarian Presidency of EU.

It was made possible with the generous support of the Bulgarian Embassy in Ireland; Dublin Culture Company; Popovo Municipality, Bulgaria; the Arts Office, Ballyfermot; BECA and various private sponsors.

This year Celebrations is going to be at Airfield Estate from 16th April to 7th May. 
Come and see the wonderful Woolplaza Festival on the 5th and 6th May.
I would be doing a great celection of events:
Take your photo  with a statement hat
Come and make a farm animal.
Or just chill in our Outside In and Inside Out interactive exhibition.

St Valentines, Dionysus and  all follies

St Valentine's Art and concept Niki Collier Photo Ivaylo Petrov

This year I look into celebrations with the help of the Bulgarian community. The project argued change as growth by looking into positive community blending as a consequence of geographical, career or personal move.

It is my way to understand why and how people choose 'special and spectacular' days. Also why and how we define and redefine us and them through cultural, geographical and demo-graphical boundaries. This month and in particular 14th of February is an interesting one from my perspective. I grew up celebrating the God of Wine on the 14th February.  It is the day the vineyards cut the vines in Bulgaria to secure healthy crop of grapes. But then I came to Ireland and it was as if the God of wine has yielded its reign to the God of Love. Arguably they both cause an array of follies. And arguably we love falling for both. Throughout the years I came to realise that we have developed a complicated relationship with both wine and love. So I started asking as a joke: ''What do you celebrate today? The god of wine or the god of love?'' I have chosen love. I knew I wanted to present love as an elevating rather than smug experience so I comment here on gay love.  The acceptance that love is love is something that my current home has proudly embraced and  regrettably something my original home Bulgaria still struggles to accept with open heart.  As the whole inspiration in the project Celebrations comes from the conviction that we can only move forward I chose a Bulgarian gay activist to help me tell the story.  Finding her was a journey that proved a learning experience. I found her through a mutual Irish friend as it turned out that Bulgarian community has not accepted its gay representatives. So I chose the narrative, which shows love in all colours and shapes with the firm stance that  as community we all need to accept that love is love. For the sake of live.

The fascination with love and its power to destroy or save us is as old as humanity. The festival of love arose from the ancient Greek tradition that gave the month its name- February.  The customs of today to smother ourselves with chocolate and pre-written cards is a product of consumerism and Middle Ages views.

The desire to say that love is love has inspired the choice of our gay activist - Vessi to be the model.  At the time Vessi was in between relationships so the felt art of rainbow coloured hearts is developed in different surfaces showing the multiple ways of breaking and putting together of ones heart. 

For the month of February the work was showcased in The Constant Knitter, Studio Space.

Celebrations The Evolution of the Bulgarian Community in Ireland

The work profiles the evolving make up of a community through geographical, cultural and personal  change.  The artistic conversation is how festivals and customs reflect and manifest this.

The models in each visual narrative are authentic members of the Bulgarian community. They are selected on the basis of their personal connection to a festival, holiday or custom. 

For each scene the artwork in felt is purposely created by Niki to reflect the message about growth, change and strength which is connecting to others. It is a research into what shifts our personal and collective boundaries of empathy, acceptance and strength.

This is a collaborative project between Niki Collier- an award winning visual artist and designer based in Dublin and Ivaylo Petrov a photographer from the Bulgarian community based in Kildare.

The Start

I came to Ireland 16 years ago with a plant from mum's garden in my pocket and a clear plan- to finish a Masters in Computational Linguistics and go back Bulgaria to teach. I was less sure what I would do with the plant... My ears were burning under the hand knitted hat I had from grandma since I was 16.

16 years later? I ended up doing a PhD, marrying, having two girls, a house and making a living by designing limited editions handmade felt pieces. Mostly hats, scarves, gloves  and even smaller number of coats.  I am a designer who makes capsule collections in handmade felt. The pieces sell all over the world. The plant? There are cuttings of it in homes all over Dublin, the Bulgarian Embassy and always in my back garden. I still have the hat.

How did I get to here? Mostly by doing what I want rather than what I should. How did the plant manage to spread so much? It seems to be thriving in Ireland. Just like me. The hat seems unfazed by all these shaganigans, or the  rest of the hats that I make. Just sits regally - pure wool from my aunt's sheep, hand spun, hand dyed and hand knitted by grandma.

I call Ireland home. Sure, everybody laughs when I say I am from South Circular Rd. With this accent? Good one. Where are you from, really? Ask my plant if you don't believe me! My home is where I put down the hat on my head. You simply could not know better than mum's plant or grandma's hat where I am at home. 

Me and Ireland are just like wool fibres- having great memory but ready to mould into the ways of the head.

Sure with all this bits and bobs at our fingertips- globalisation, social media awareness and travel, knowledge and all the rest we are all One. 

Today I tell all my stories in the pieces I make.  This one is told by the One hat - undyed wool, with the symbol of unity on the front. Worn by girls and boys.

I am writing on the day of my 16 year anniversary from Cow's Lane Designer Studio in Temple Bar, Dublin.

The  first image of the blog is of mum's plant freshly picked from my garden and my One Hat is perched just behind. Grandma's hat is waiting for me home where Rem (my husband), and Coral and Tanya (my girls) are making me a celebratory dinner.

The rest are of what I do-:)

Happy First Day of Spring!

We all have stories that make us feel as One.