CVETANA MANEVA

2004

7 silver halide transparencies 70x96 cm., aluminium frame 100x200x200 cm.

7 pigment prints 70x96 cm.

Edition of 3+1

The installation pays tribute to the Bulgarian actress Cvetana Maneva. Through a series of photographs presented in different media forms, we discover the significance of both mask (understood as free space expressiveness conditioning and conditioning) and the more personal face that goes beyond the public persona and becomes a manifest of humanity.

The installation portrait consists of silver halide transparencies, in aluminum frame. The mild and careful choice of material represents what might be described as a metaphor of human relations: if we look in a fixed and static frontal position, the succession of the seven films, through to the grey wall to prevent our eyes to recognize the face of Cvetana and see the changes. Only by accepting the compromise of our active participation, we can enter the mechanism of the evolution of the mimicry, and enjoy the expressiveness that it conveys. With an imperceptible difference, the mask of Cvetana Maneva becomes from time to time: surprise, regret, doubt, peace, humanity, concentration, possibilities. 

The viewer suspects if she is revealing the narrator or character as a person, but this uncertainty is the gift that comes from having started a dialogue with her, and that is the mark that remains: the mystery of a person. The project is composed of large shots and kaleidoscopic series of Polaroid format, to increase the angle with which to discover Cvetana Maneva.                                   

Martina Stoppioni, FOR Gallery, Florence