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.

Grandma's Day 21st January

Grandma's Day Concept and Art Niki Collier, photo Ivaylo Petrov

Grandma’s Day Grandma’s Day is celebrated at the beginning of January in Bulgaria. It pays homage to those who help during birth – during the 18th, 19th and first part of the 20th century it used to be experienced older ladies- therefore the Day of Grandma. On that day young women and toddlers pay respect to these women giving them a few gifts amongst which is a bag of wool.  In my childhood, my grandma was a grounding force in our sometimes volatile family. She taught me how to knit and the last thing she knitted before she died was a hat for me.  Grandma shaped my core- my passion for telling stories in textiles. The Story This composition shows knowledge transferred from one generation to another. It relates to conversations about age, attitudes and connections between generations.  It simultaneously explores aging in the context of today’s reality- that people’s desire to have a full life keeps them young regardless of their age. Therefore the look of the grandmother is informed by Iris Apfel who even in her late 90s continues to be an inspiration for the fashion world and a true icon of style and gumption. The boy is taught to knit by her as a twofold story: that crafts are again cool and young and that we have the option to choose our occupation regardless of age, gender or race. The Grandma’s hat is inspired by the changing structure of aging chromosomes. Our body changes are triggered by the shortening of their tails. The Boys hat is formed by open tubes to symbolise the openness of our minds as children. The knit art used as a teaching sample has been done by the model herself.

Veronica & Kevin Veronica came to Ireland 10 years ago with her husband and son. Eventually, the family grew- her son married his Latvian wife, they had a daughter that Veronica dotes on and Veronica’s mum has joined the family. Four generations under one roof.  Veronica always dreamed being an actress. She re-enacts Baba Marta at the community celebrations of Baba Marta. So with her young spirit and grandma’s reputation she was the obvious choice for this story. Kevin is a pupil in the Bulgarian School Азбука He is very imaginative child and as soon as he saw the hat of learning he gave it a name: Shrek’s hat.  

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.

H is for Hope (not Horror. Really!)

I have started working on the photo shoot for the new collection.

I love that moment. You get so much done is an impossible space of time. And because you are working towards a deadline all the impossible steps become a process that are just part of the game. And failures are just data entries in our experiments logs...

This year the collection is called H. H stands for Hope, not for Horror if you were wondering. In fact a bit of both. Cause you can really appreciate hope when you are scared shitless or beaten down to the bottom of the stairs. It is inspired by one of my Matrix moment. Remember when Trinity talks herself into ''Get up Trinity, get up'' and does impossible things: jumps over roofs,  because everything is just will power, creativity and skill, right?  

Look, I would be the first one to say that connections, money and ego work just as well. Sure they do.

It just that Hope relies less on external and precarious stuff.

So H  explores void spaces and how we transform horror into hope. The place and time at the bottom of the stairs and how we pick ourselves up and fly. Get up, Trinity. Get up Neo. Get up You.

The collection has strong emphasis on undyed local breeds wool. And as with my previous collections there are embellishments using technology and e-technology. 

I hope H to work on many levels. 

Here is the work in progress.

I got the support of Feltmakers Ireland.for this so it is going to be in August in the Phoenix Park Visitor's Centre... An amazing venue.

I would be developing the accessories range at the moment while experimenting with the outrageous pieces.

And working on the furniture pieces for Design Week.

Loads to do. No wonder I am working in the small hours of the night, right? Well, not really. I just sat and watched the Matrix. Couldn't help it after I tagged the video. Am I a nerd if I know most of the dialogue by heart?