The Queen Of The Animals And The Most Beautiful Gardens
Hristina Tasheva :: 28.06.2018 :: 19:00
28 of June, 7 p.m.
Hristina Tasheva
The Queen Of The Animals And The Most Beautiful Gardens
Presentation of the book
When shown in West European news, Bulgaria (my homeland) is described as the poorest EU Member State, where about 1,6 million young people have left the country for lack of opportunities. The parents and grandparents who remain in the country are hoping their children will return someday.
Fifteen years ago, my sister and I immigrated to the Netherlands to be able to survive. Last summer our dear mother became ill. Our father, who shares his life with another woman, concluded: “Now you really have to come back home.” A friend of mine reacted with the words: “Maybe that’s why your mother is ill, because you left her alone.” To make up for the gap that opened in her life, my mother surrounded herself with animals rescued from the street. For her, they are my brothers and sisters. She says: “When you live with animals, you become one”, or, “I am half-animal and they – half-human.” Plants are also her passion, when no one else is around.
This project is a portrait of my homeland, Bulgaria, and my mother, at the same time. I am also asking from the position of a migrant what the moral relationship between me and my parents and homeland is; what it means to come back home; and where is home.
Numbered edition of 114
Size: 190 mm x 260 mm
Pages: 128
Paper: Biotop 250 gsm, 120 gsm
Typography: Roboto Condensed, handwriting by Hristina Tasheva
Printed in 5 colors
Perfect bound brochure with cold glue
Concept, images and text: Hristina Tasheva
Design: Emmy van Thiel
Edit: Edwin Stolk, Hristina Tasheva
Text edit: Vesselin Petrov
Mentorship: Roel Arkesteijn
Printing and binding: Charles Nypels Lab, Van Eyck, Maastricht
Many thanks to my mother Petranka Ivanova and my sister Nina Tasheva
Self-published
English, November 2017
The publication has been made possible with financial support from the Mondriaan Fund