lyuba haleva: lily lives in the city
<p>beginning with the image of a young woman featured on candywrappers, the mixed media series 'lily lives in the city' investigates the widespread personal discontent felt in contemporary consumerist society.</p>
‘buy me something’, part of the ‘lily lives in the city’ series by lyuba haleva
the project ‘lily lives in the city’, created by bulgarian artist lyuba haleva, investigates the meaning of the individual in the context of issues raised by urban and contemporary society. the works are on exhibition at art gallery anima in sofia, bulgaria.
the series is composed of large format panels (70 x 200 centimeters) executed with mixed media including prints, collaged paper and newspapers, and wood. the figure of ‘lily’ herself is a romantic image of a young woman featured on the wrappings of turkish delight candies. haleva notes that her great grandfather used to produce the confections in the middle of last century, adding a sense of the personal and familial history to the pieces.
haleva is quick to note that lily is not a simplified symbol of feminism. instead, the juxtaposed imagery of the collages raises numerous questions about modern life:
‘are new technologies helping in communication, or are they are making us feel more alone? how far do the consumer tastes reach? are there boundaries? if yes, what lies beyond those boundaries? lily is an epitome of our personal discontent, which we substitute each day with unnecessary objects. lily is an expression of deep subconscious fears and a primal effort for accomplishing harmony and equilibrium between man and his surrounding world. is that possible in today’s city-corporations?’
‘trojan horse’
‘lily in the space’
‘bella’
‘city dragon’
the original candywrappers from where haleva took the image of lily
—
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for editing and publication.
