2025
An urban landscape is most truthfully defined by how it preserves its history. Old and new buildings shouldn't collide but coexist, with the emerging character of the city respecting what came before. This harmony is a reflection of human society itself, translated into everything we create and leave behind. Yet when we see something crumbling and mistreated by the sheer struggle for survival, it wounds that pride. In the Urban Palimpsest, the facade of a once-spectacular building is being swallowed — not by ivy or moss, but by the relentless spread of urbanity. Stone melts and crumbles into itself, its delicate cornices and entablatures losing the memory of the craftsmanship once present. Cables pierce the surface, snaking through cracks and claiming the voids that are formed. Air-conditioning units, crudely attached despite the elegant visage, while a rainwater pipe rams through the upper stone, a harsh intrusion in the fragile poetry of the facade. These are the marks of a city pressing in, urbanity taking over and representing the way Sofia is mistreating its history without the visible hope of saving a piece of itself. The drawing phenomenology method seeks to translate onto paper what is seen, felt, and understood from the existing materiality and spatial experience. Stippling and linework trace over the aging surfaces, emphasizing the decay and rough edges of the facade. Urban elements not originally part of the building are cut out and elevated, bringing the present moment into focus amid the historical structure. Everything else recedes into the linear void, allowing the dialogue between past and present to emerge. The piece is a drawing collage made with ink on silk pure white washi paper and PVC. Dimensions: 415 x 290 mm.