Bulgaria

Adelina Popnedeleva uses the materials of everyday life in her art performances and videos. In a statement by the artist, she said, “my works are made of provocations from real life because I think that life is full of art.” In many of her performances, she says, she “shows her soul” to the viewer. Therefore the result is often a visceral and engaging psychological performance. Adelina started working in performance in 1999. She talks about working intuitively; it was later that she completed a PhD in art history and theory. An earlier performance, Masochistic Performance after Hans Christian Andersen (2000), also explores the element of pain. The idea came from the story The Wild Swans, in which an evil queen turns Elisa’s brothers into swans, and the girl must weave shirts out of nettles to turn her brothers back into humans. The artist said that the performance was about love, which brings not only pleasure, but also pain and qualified the term by saying that perhaps she was a “soft feminist.” More importantly, she said is against hierarchy. Popnedeleva acknowledges that there are differences between men and women, but disagrees that one should be treated better than the other. More importantly, however, her work is about the development of the individual in society, and the equanimity that can come from his or her complete integration.

There is an obvious analogy with Andersen's fairy tale " Eliza and wild swans." It talking about the girl who sacrificially assumes the role of savior of his brothers converted by the evil stepmother in swans. She must weave 11 shirts from nettle not saying a word. When she was accused of witchcraft, the girl is ready to accept her assigned fate, but not to speak.

Popnedeleva explained her artwork: “In the fairy tale I am caring feminine side, the position of Eliza that accepts suffering, accepts misunderstanding, accusation sand silence. For me it is a metaphor of love. Love is not a pleasure and delight. Love, devoid of brilliant, spectacular, beautiful gestures, but close to the real and trivial sacrifices we make for love us.”