From the Artist:
Images intertwine—along the road, across walls, upon doors. I absorb these messages; I photograph them, dream them, and invent my own stories. The Black Madonna found me in the Cape Verde Islands and settled into my paintings. A conversation between two Bulgarian Roma women on a bus stopped in front of “La Costa” in London gave birth to the series The Walls, which is part of this exhibition. And the doors? The doors are a symbol I invite you to feel—as a bridge to a past, to a carefree, dusty, sunlit childhood of the 1970s.
For me, it is a challenge to draw you into my sensibility and my way of perceiving.
I search for the imprint of time, for the messages on the walls; I delve into symbols; legends consume me—like the one about the Dragon’s House in the village of Pirin, for example. A local singer once sang it and told it, sending shivers down my spine and giving rise to a new series. These are the impulses that inspire me and give me no rest until I recreate them.
I hope to touch you, and that you will sense that elusive feeling of déjà vu—when you know this has happened before. And yet it slips away again; the images blur, turn almost black and white. I am not in first grade, not playing Fox Bride, and yet—it is now. Now is Prague, now is London, now are the islands—now is the whole world.
I dream with a brush and charcoal in hand, my eyes open.
I see my mother’s hair, reaching down to her knees. The shadow of an old door is cast—of a house that no longer exists; another door tells of a quiet presence.
I peer through the keyhole of childhood; the images find me on their own and fall into place.
I turn the pages, travel through time—and it ceases to exist.
A pink moon and scattered shadows.
Bistra Bakalova is an artist whose creative path unfolds between Bulgaria and Europe, shaping a deeply personal and recognizable visual language. Born in Bulgaria, she graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Sliven, continued her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Veliko Tarnovo University, and between 1988 and 1992 specialized at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kyiv.
Since 1992, she has lived and worked in Prague—a cultural environment that has become a natural extension of her artistic development and international presence.
At the core of her practice lies a process of collecting and transforming impressions—fragments of reality that the artist “absorbs”: images on walls and doors, overheard conversations, myths, and personal memories. These become starting points for series built intuitively, yet with an inner logic and coherence. Thus, a conversation overheard on a bus in London gave rise to the series The Walls, while an encounter with the image of the Black Madonna in the Cape Verde Islands found continuation in painterly interpretations.
Doors emerge as a central symbol in this exhibition—as memory and as a possibility of passage. They lead to a carefree, dusty, sunlit childhood of the 1970s, but also open spaces toward the inner world and the collective memory. In Bakalova’s work, time is not linear—it unfolds simultaneously as past and present, as lived experience and as dream.
Her creative process is driven by impulses—legends such as that of the Dragon’s House in the village of Pirin, random voices, personal visions. These seemingly disparate sources merge into a unified visual fabric in which the real and the imagined coexist. “I dream with a brush and charcoal in hand, with my eyes open,” the artist shares, capturing the essence of her approach.
Her painting does not offer singular interpretations, but rather seeks a shared experience. It invites the viewer to recognize that elusive sense of déjà vu—a moment in which images appear familiar, yet remain intangible, dissolving between memory and the present.
Over the years, Bistra Bakalova has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, and beyond. Her work has been presented in galleries in Prague, Basel, Paris, London, and Frankfurt, as well as within international forums such as the Autumn Salon of Art in Paris.
Her works are part of private collections in more than 45 countries worldwide—a testament to the broad international interest in her practice.
This exhibition marks Bistra Bakalova’s first presentation before a Bulgarian audience—a symbolic return to the place where her artistic journey began. In this context, the exhibition unfolds as a space of encounter: between the personal and the universal, between past and present, between artist and viewer.
The exhibition will be open to visitors from April 28 to May 16, 2026.
Vernissage (with invitations): April 28, 6 p.m.
Venue: Gallery 33, 2A Gabrovo St.
Tel.: 0899878333
E-mail: contact@gallery33.art
Admission: Free