Michaela Lakova (b. 1987, Sofia) is a visual artist based between Rotterdam and Sofia, working in the framework of erasure and memory. Her work encompasses video and art installations. She completed her BA in Stage design from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts, Sofia (2011) and Master degree in Design and Communication from Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (2014). Her group exhibitions include: Rosa Stern, Munich, Digital Aesthetics, +359 gallery, Sofia, Digital Art Festival, Goethe Institut, Sofia; Art Meets Radical Openness, Linz; Radical Networks, New York; Medialab Prado, Madrid; What remains, Graz, ZK/U, Berlin; Unlinked, TENT gallery, Rotterdam and Piksel Festival at Lydgallerit, Bergen.

 

Earth Rebels 

Filming: Michaela Lakova & Franky Rivers
Visual material provided by: Canon Bulgaria and Martin Grahovski
Performers: Bozhidar Zhisov & Voin de Voin
Editing: Michaela Lakova
Music: Kathryn Mitchell “Podzim Sum Malo Legnala” & Tzotzil Song For Saint Peter

“One thing only speaks our word,
one thing only looks at our gaze,
the constitutional recognition of indigenous rights and culture,
a place worthy for the color of the earth,
it is time for this country to stop being a shame.“

— III National Indigenous Congress, March 11, 2001, Mexico City

“Earth Rebels” is an anthropological and artistic research into the indigenous Tzotzil carnival in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, Mexico combined with the sacral rituals of kukeri in Razlog and Shiroka Laka, Rhodope mountains, Bulgaria. What might be the commonalities between those two cultures dating back before the Spanish and Ottoman invasions? The artist takes her own journey into the depths of the spiritual self with its complex cultural and historical preconditions in order to open a dialogue about collective memory and erasing history.

*This project is kindly supported by the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria.