Ivona Nikolova

  • Graduation work
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  • Design (full-time)

Design - Product Design

Exemplary Home

Ivona Nikolova (b. 2002) is a Bulgarian multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her work explores recent Bulgarian history, collective trauma, cultural identity, and human stories through beadwork, hand embroidery, and photographic motifs. 

Her installation, titled “Exemplary Home” explores and challenges socialist nostalgia in Bulgaria, which is experiencing a rise as global politics are becoming more conservative. It brings light to the fact that while a lot of people yearn for these “simpler times”, we shouldn’t ignore the dark aspects of living in a totalitarian system. The work features textile recreations of real slogan signs that existed in communist Bulgaria, decorated with pearls, frills and laces to emphasize the way our nostalgic brains can deceive us. The work urges people towards more nuanced discussions about communism in Bulgaria, instead of leaning on sweeping generalizations and wistful recollections of grandma’s kitchen.

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Programmes

  • Design (full-time)