STEP FORWARD - The murals
TOPIC: #freedomtobeyourself
Mural by Lucid Eve: August 28 - September 3, 2021
Mural by Aleksi Ivanov: November 16, 2021
Step Forward is a mural art initiative and our way to "step forward" and support contemporary urban artists to develop their artistic vision. The chosen topic is #freedomtobeyourself aiming to raise awareness towards the LGTBI community in Bulgaria. Project is organized jointly by Visionary, Single Step and Spark & Riot. The aim is to create a mural, part of the community multifunctional space The Steps, located on a wall of its courtyard at 12 Bratya Miladinovi Str., Sofia. The Steps is the social enterprise of the Single Step Foundation, whose mission is to support, motivate and empower young LGBTI people in Bulgaria.
After a successful open invitation competition, our international jury of artists Arsek x Erase (BG), Hombre (DE), Jimmy Paintz (USA) and representatives of Visionary, Single Step and Spark & Riot chose Lucid Eve to perform their creative concept. .
Eva shares about her work on the topic #freedomtobeyourself:
"My message is to shape the inexpressible. I believe that the more we inspire each other and paint our dreams in colors and shapes, the more change we can expect in our lives."
Eva is a free soul and a talented illustrator with a distinctive style.
For a long time she worked in the advertising business for established agencies, contributing with her incredible characters design to brands to have a strong and colorful presence. She is currently a freelance artist.
Although she enjoys the digital way of working, she loves to paint in a large format, and her passion fits the walls no less than a tablet.
Eva believes that the freedom to be ourselves is one of the biggest and undoubtedly important topics in modern society. She recalls how every revolutionary movement fights for the expansion of freedom, whether personal, group, national or universal. That is why her project is related to free expression in creative and personal terms.
"In strengthening the natural passion we carry, to share and expand our heart
and to share all the songs, pictures, words, imagination that are hidden there."- shares the artist.
Alexi Ivanov also impressed the international jury, and therefore, the teams of Single Step and Visionary decided outside the competition to offer Aleksi the opportunity to develop and implement his own project. Aleksi Ivanov's project Nature is a combination of a mural art piece, right across The Steps, and a solo exhibition of digital prints and illustrations. The author develops the idea that life is not black and white, and there is a place for everyone under the sun. The focus is mainly on jungle animals, because they are visually colorful and bright, and although we do not see them in their natural environment, this does not mean that they do not exist or are not important for biodiversity. Life is colorful, beautiful, interesting, exciting and our curiosity expands our worldview, not limits and encapsulates it. The author relies on hyperbole and variability in the colors of stylized animals, showing their beauty and their identity.
ORGANIZERS
Visionary is a platform for the visual arts. The main focus is the author's view of the individual artist and providing freedom to develop the personal vision.
The mission of the Single Step Foundation is to support, motivate and empower young people from the LGBTI community, their parents, friends and supporters, in the process of self-awareness, disclosure and affirmation of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Single Step is the owner of the community multifunctional space The Steps, located at 12 Bratya Miladinovi Str., Sofia.
Spark & Riot is an American production house, created and managed by women, with a creative European charge. The company's targeted policy is to support local NGOs working for social causes.
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This project is funded by Spark & Riot and initiated by Single Step in partnership with Visionary.
The project partner is the manufacturer of high quality paints and materials Dekorator / Megachim.
Photographer and cinematographer: Boris Urumov