Ralitsa Doncheva
(almost) impossible worlds

From September 6 to November 3, 2018
Opening on September 7 from 5 pm to midnight

As if on the periphery of the gaze, because often what commands our attention is located outside the frame, the work of Ismaïl Bahri, James Benning, Ralitsa Doncheva and Miriam Sampaio carefully documents the occupation of a site which, for reasons both personal and political, is the only witness, even the sole legatee, of past or future events, giving form to an exile either desired or imposed, permanent or temporary.

With the program (almost) impossible worlds Ralitsa Doncheva proposes three works which explore a space between the real and the imaginary, past and present, in a quest for new meaning. With their vibrant granular textures and soft lighting, her films lead us to reflect on the fragility and impermanence of our identities and feelings. 

Desert Islands (2018) weaves a spiralling movement, drifting between places and stories, images and sounds both individual and collective to try to create a connection between the past and the present.

Baba Dana Talks To The Wolves (2016) is an impressionist portrait of Baba Dana, an eighty-five-year-old woman who chose to spend her life on a mountain, far from people and towns, in one of the oldest monasteries in Bulgaria. There are no wolves in this film. There are no more wolves in Bulgaria.

Comprised of clips taken from 1970s Ukrainian documentary films and communist propaganda films, Unfortunately It Was Paradise (2013) creates a hypnotic experience, which over the course of its repetitive loops, simulates the life cycle. Presenting us with images that are anonymous and yet unsettling in their familiarity, the film evokes both a sense of presence and absence. 

FC

Ralitsa Doncheva was raised in Bulgaria, where she was born in 1987, and now resides in Montréal. Her work extends from cinema to video installations, varying between analogue and digital media, and has been shown internationally. Her recent project, Baba Dana Talks To The Wolves, received the Eileen Maitland Award at the 54th Ann Arbor Film Festival. She is currently completing a master’s degree in Studio Arts at Concordia University.