In brief
From 3 to 21 November, Serdica Gallery hosted Valka Parusheva’s textile exhibition "Layers," featuring 26 abstract works that employ micro‑textile threads as pixel‑like elements. The artist blends minimalism and geometric complexity to evoke how accumulated emotional layers form perceptual colour fields, echoing the multilayered nature of consciousness. Parusheva’s background in artistic textiles and her numerous national awards underscore her commitment to innovation in contemporary textile art.
On 3 November 2026, Sofia’s Serdica Gallery opened 26 textile‑based abstract works by Valka Parusheva, the exhibition titled Layers running until 21 November. The display explores how the accumulation of layers in human consciousness and emotion shapes perception, using a textile fabric in which each individual thread behaves like a pixel when viewed closely.
Each micro‑thread in Parusheva’s fabric functions as a tiny coloured point—akin to a pixel in digital displays—yet when thousands of such points overlap, they merge into translucent colour fields visible from a distance. This technique mirrors how memory and sensory input, layered over time, coalesce into a singular experiential reality. The artist’s deliberate use of geometric shapes and minimal colour palettes further emphasizes the interplay between complexity and simplicity, achieving a balance between order and fluidity.
Technique and Concept
Parusheva founded the technique during a two‑year research period prior to the exhibition’s opening. She selected a specific textile fabric that allowed her to weave individual threads so tightly that, under magnification, they appear as discrete, almost pixelated units. When observers moved closer, the thread network disintegrated into a mosaic of micro‑colours; stepping back, the same arrangement resolved into gently blended translucent fields, showcasing the dynamic layering effect.
The exhibition’s title—Layers—reflects both the physical layering of threads and the figurative layering of mental states. By stacking subtle hues and geometric forms, Parusheva invites viewers to consider how each layer of emotion, memory, or consciousness overlays the previous ones, never quite erasing what has preceded.
Parusheva explained, I would like this exhibition to convey a sense of warm human presence and offer a purely aesthetic experience.
"I would like this exhibition to convey a sense of warm human presence and offer a purely aesthetic experience," said Parusheva.
Born in 1969 in Sliven, Bulgaria, Parusheva graduated in artistic textiles from the Dimitar Dobrovich School of Applied Arts in 1988. She has worked internationally in contemporary art, textiles, and graphic design, and has been a member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists (UBA) since 1991. Her career spans national group exhibitions and seven solo shows starting in that same year.
In 2016, Parusheva participated in an artist residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, a period that broadened her exposure to cross‑disciplinary artistic practices. Her works have since entered the UBA collection, galleries in Sliven, Yambol, and Ruse, as well as private collections across Bulgaria and abroad.
Parusheva’s recent accolades include the UBA award in the textile art section of the Grass and Water National Exhibition and an accolade at the Dissonances National Exhibition, both in 2026. She also won the award for unconventional forms at the Sirak Skitnik National Exhibition in 2024, and twice the award for an artist from the host city of Sliven in 2018.
The exhibition’s focus on layers extends beyond visual representation; it engages with philosophical questions about cognition similarly investigated in cognitive science, where layering of neural networks and memory traces is studied. Although the exhibition itself is purely artistic, Parusheva’s method offers a tangible analog to how repeated interactions and experiences build upon one another, recalling the hypothesis that consciousness forms a cumulative record of prior states.
Visitors to the Serdica Gallery noted the subtle interplay between detail and abstraction, commenting that the tense separation of micro‑threads at close distance dissolves into harmonious colour fields at arm’s length. The visual experience thus mirrors how individual sensations coalesce into holistic perception, resonating with viewers who appreciate the fusion of material precision and emotive depth in contemporary textile practice.
As the exhibition continues through the month of November, Parusheva’s work remains a testament to the capacity of textile art to probe complex cognitive themes while sustaining aesthetic excellence, positioning her within an emerging cohort of artists who employ precise material manipulations to explore deeply human concepts.
