The LOST FOREST project presents the works of 19 contemporary Bulgarian artists who unfold their interpretations of a profound spiritual theme. Through painting, sculpture, photography, collage, installation, neon, and artistic perfumery, they explore states of the past, present, and future, delving into their roots and memories.
LOST FOREST brings together diverse creative visions that intertwine and remind us that the forest is not merely a physical place, but a state of mind - one that we can still rediscover if we have the sensitivity to seek it. Urbanization, neon lights, city noise, accelerated lifestyles, ecological issues, emotionally cold relationships, and the lack of tolerance and harmony intensify when humans forget their nature and their connection to the forest, the grass, the mountains, and the earth. LOST FOREST becomes a metaphor for our everyday reality and surroundings.
In literature, the forest is not simply a natural environment, but a place of trials, transition, and transformation. It is a space of disorientation where the hero enters in order to undergo challenges - a magical realm, a place of danger and confrontation, a “parallel stage” in which characters lose themselves to experience inner change. The “lost forest” is a metaphor for hidden knowledge or forbidden territory. Outside of literature, however, we are surrounded by the noise and dynamics of the big city. Technology dominates our daily lives; we are dependent on our phones and communicate through social media. At times, we seek escape from all this, yet often fail to achieve it. Memories of contemplating the forest and the mountains, of solitary trees gently swaying, and the quiet blue sky above them appear as déjà vu—sweet, cherished fragments of the past. This is a journey through the shadows of a childhood memory, of our first encounters with nature, of distant and exciting journeys we have lost, yet which continue to pulse within our consciousness.
