S.I.S.

Collaboration with Iskra Blagoeva

S.I.S. III photo credit Milena Edvig
S.I.S. video still, 2022
S.I.S. III video still, 2023

Upon noticing that here lifeline was interrupted in the middle, Boryana Petkova decides to correct it and continue it with a tattoo. Iskra Blagoeva suggests to continue the line through her body, as an act of trust, bonding and sharing. This marks the initiation of the project, born from this complementarity between the two artists. It took place on 31.12.2021 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The idea is to create a sisterhood, manifested by the lines running through the bodies of different women, each one selected and invited by the one before. Gathered together, they will thus create an endlessly transforming drawing that will remind and visualize the already existing powerful bond between women.

 This is a performative act that will evolve over time. This project was initiated through an interest in the knowledge of the body as practiced by women. Their connection to witchcraft and the sacred, albeit an alternative one, is still dismissed to this day, when the medical science is still biased towards the female body and the study of the menstrual cycle, female neurodivergent deviations and the menopause. Today, when women’s fundamental rights are once again under threat, they must take their fate into their own hands by defending, upholding and empowering each other.

Project participants to date:

Boryana Petkova
Iskra Blagoeva
Valentina Sciarra
Mariela Gemisheva
Joana Neves
Constanca Saturnino
Sidonie Gaychet
Marion Zilio
Joana Carrier
Laure Boucomont
Wura Gunji
Dagwoodmissy
Virginie Lorkens
Rosena Ivanova
Raya Raeva
Rafaela Rafaelova
Sabine Steinherr
Sabrina Roll
Snejana Krasteva
Anastasia Skvortsova
Elitsa Radeva
Rayna Teneva
Gergana Ivanova
Ivana Gigova
Stela Vasileva
Cvetelina Malinova
Aleksandra Stoyanova

tatoo: Constança Saturnino

text: Joana Neves

S.I.S. tatoo lines – each woman chose the place and the size of her line 
S.I.S. vectorised lines 
S.I.S.line made by combining differents segments