This work was completed as part of Culture Night 2024.
Concept: The stork is a bird that symbolises health and beginning of life in Bulgarian Culture. It is part of the martenitsa tradition- marking the first of March (beginning of spring) by seeing a stork carrying a white and red wool adornment which Bulgarian wear to gain health and long life. The bird brings the martenitsa in the embassy garden. Homing this Bulgarian tradition in all corners of the world has brought many new stories of love friendship, happiness and hope. Now often you would see people from all backgrounds carrying a martenitsa and you would guess that they have been reached out by Bulgarian culture through one of their loved ones.
The Dublin Eye – New York Installation: Connecting Dublin with New York through our stork. The drive behind this installation was to celebrate the world without boundaries and connect kindred spirits in Dublin and New York.
Birds often have several homes- winter home, summer home, birth home. Stork is no different. From spring to autumn, it lives in Bulgaria from Autumn to Winter it lives in Africa. One of the busiest flyways of the white stork on its way to Africa and back to Europe passes through Bulgaria. Nearly 80 per cent of all white storks on the planet fly through , mostly in the area of the city of Burgas – about 260 000 every autumn.
Stork lore states that this is the bird bringing new life to us- stork delivers babies in a bundle to the expecting families.
The concept behind the photoshoot reflects the message of hope, health and beginning of safe family life. Something that we all aspire to regardless of what brought us to the place where we have built our nest in. Photographing the installation simultaneously in Dublin and New York reinforces the idea of hope, love and the perspective of how we are connected to each other. It was wonderful to see that people of all walks of life were circling around our installation. There was a mum in Dublin, talking to her daughter in New York while looking at each other at the portal.
Big crowd gathered as if protecting the flight of the stork and many faces from different background and origin stood proud in the picture.
The work is programed into three art engagements which are detailed below:
Engagement 1: Installation on 23rd August 2024 at the Bulgarian Embassy and Dublin Eye Portal between NY and Dublin.
The installation was photographed for Culture Night.
| Where: | Bulgarian Embassy Dublin Eye- Video Portal New York |
| Who: | Dr. Niki Collier (Artist, Producer) Barry Cronin (Photographer) Maria Staneva (Artist) H.E. Vanya Andreeva Bulgarian Embassy (Commission) |
| When: | 23rd August 2024 |
| What: | Niki Collier’s custom made wings of a stork photographed by Barry Cronin in site specific location. Worn by Maria Staneva, an Irish Bulgarian teenager who masters Irish dancing professionally. |
Engagement 2: The Stork and the Stork Stories: Exhibition of the photos; live performance of the wings in a dance and workshop Culture Night 20th September 2024
Storks are not native to Ireland but they are coming for one night and one night only as part of Niki’s installation. On Culture Night, an installation by the visual artist Niki Collier entitled ‘Stork’ will be featured in the outer area of the Embassy building along with a performance of traditional dance and music. This event will showcase some of Niki’s award-winning installations in an exhibit of photography. As part of the evening’s programme, guests are also invited to get involved in our art workshop.
The photos from the installation at the Bulgarian Embassy and the Dublin Video Portal are launched as a multidisciplinary exhibition at The Bulgarian Embassy on Culture Night 20th September 2024. Both photos and the wings artwork feature in it.
Exhibition is launched by:
H.E. Mrs. Vanya Andreeva
Bulgarian Embassy
22 Burlington Road, Dublin 2.
The exhibition launch features a dance from Maria Staneva at 7pm & 8pm for Culture Night.
A family workshop is facilitated Dr. Niki Collier. The participants create nests and share fairytales about birds.
The work symbolises the drive for belonging during change of nest and the enrichment which comes with the desire to soar into culture. Maria would have probably never performed as an Irish Dancer should she has chosen Ireland as her nest.
This event is part of the European Culture Trail – a EUNIC Ireland (European Union National Institutes for Culture) initiative in cooperation with the European Commission Representation in Ireland. Immerse yourself in the diversity of European languages and cultures on the European Culture Trail.
Engagement 3: Beyond Chaos Textile Journey Collective Exhibition in The Morison Room, Dublin Castle Sep 2024-Jan 2025. The Stork artwork is curated for the exhibition
The Stork is curated for the Beyond Chaos Exhibition (Textile Journey Group, Morrison Room, Dublin).
Beyond Chaos is the 2024 exhibition of Textile Journey, at The Coach House, Dublin Castle. The collective is an all-island artist at all stages of their careers and with various access needs. The collective believes in sharing skills and ideas to serve the community through diversity and inclusion initiatives.
The exhibition is founded on both personal and outreach work. Alongside individual artists’ work, a community installation incorporates contributions from people around the globe, including pieces developed through inclusion and diversity programs with the Irish Department of Education, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the expat Irish community in Australia.
Niki’s work on Symbols of Mobility advocates for shaping us into a community that sees change and growth and uses challenges in order to create a stronger bond between ourselves.