16 - 20 March 2021 - Andrea Popyordanova solo exhibition
A walk on the Sunny Beach coastal strip
“Regarding the matter of coastal properties, it is important to mention a few details. [...] There is a significant difference between a property with a view to the sea and a property on the first line. The term ‘first line’ means that the building has been erected at a very close proximity to the coastal strip and there are no other built structures between it and the sea. Therefore, there are no obstacles to the sea view from any of the building’s floors.” (Bulgarian Property Services)
First Line is a series of drawings and a limited edition publication, which use walking as a method to understand a place. The body of work encompasses the entire Sunny Beach coastal stretch from the North to the South.
The publication is an imagined tourist guide for this itinerary. A multitude of elements from the location are listed, in the order of their appearance during the walk. A non-exhaustive list of them is: swimming pools, compulsory for every hotel, seductive panoramas towards the sea, golden sands, numerous artefacts, sculptures, more than 300 species of exotic palms, both plastic and natural, alpineums, columns, terraces, arches, all of them from varied historical epochs. These objects and details of the built environment all together create an open air ‘museum’, set up on popular images of the ‘ideal’ holiday. This museum tells a narrative about the moment in time, when all these images have come to be, materialized on the coastal strip.
Andrea Popyordanova is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, co-founder of the image making collective CHARK and TI-RE platform for independent books. At the moment she is working on the idea how drawing, text and publication can tell non-fictional stories and experiences.
The exhibition and the publication are funded by the National Culture Fund, Bulgaria, through the Creative Initiatives program.
