Marie Civikov

” My work primarily concerns humanistic questions in a surrealistic setting in which ‘normal’ figuration alternates with abstract components in almost overexposed bright colours.

A subject that’s always more or less present in my work is the unknown of death. During my childhood sometimes I had anxiety dreams about death. These were abstract dreams of dark coloured wires floating towards me through space. They occurred when I was lying in my bed or on the couch with a feverish flu. With my eyes open I saw them approaching me. At first the wires were straight and even but soon they became entangled, became heavier and pressed their suffocating weight on my blanket. 

These knots of wires often are visible in my work. They don’t as much symbolize a fear of death, but more the inevitability and mystery death brings. What, if anything, remains of our spiritual being when we are physically not here anymore? And if so, is it possible for us, people who love each other, to meet somewhere? On the other hand, more concrete subjects concerning our current western society also interest I find it interesting to combine the two worlds, the physical and the metaphysical. My intention is to convert the personal and the private as closely as possible in my work in a visual language that makes outsiders curious and permits them to enter a world they do not know. My goal is neither identification nor recognition; it’s rather about rapprochement through wonder.

In relation to this, since 2016, my work is more specifically based on a long-term and above all intuitive research within my family history, which takes place for the greater part in Bulgaria and Indonesia, or “the Dutch East Indies” during the Dutch occupation. 

Practically since the start of this process, alongside my individual work, a long-lasting collaboration has emerged with visual artist Voin de Voin. Our ancestors, his greatgrandmother and my grandfather, who both actively stood up against (emerging) fascism starting from Bulgaria in the 1920’s, was the foundation of our first collaboration. This resulted in an ongoing project, so far consisting of a series of installations and performances under the umbrella title “The Revolution will not die with Us”.“

– Marie Civikov