Leda Vaneva completed her BA in 2010 at the National Academy of Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria specializing in Porcelain and Glass, and in 2012 she finished her MA in Photography at the same university. Since 2014 she has been studying New Media at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland.
She has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Austira, the Netherlands and Spain. Solo exhibitions: Center Shift, Vaska Emanuilova gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (2015); The More, the More, The Fridge, Sofia, Bulgaria (2014). Selected group exhibitions: Project Lantern Park, LUX festival, Helsinki, Finland (2016); Transcending cultures - Essl Art Award CEE, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg/Vienna, Austria ( 2013); Annonymous Drawings, Kunstverein Tiergarten | Galerie Nord, Berlin, Germany and Temporary Art Centre, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (2013); Camera Obscura 2, Barcelona, Spain (2012).
Recipient of several international art awards: Baza Award for Contemporary Art - nomination (2014); Essl Art Award CEE (2013); Awards for young artists, Societe Generale Expressbank partners' program Drawing competition prize, National Academy of Arts (2010); Tile design competition, Ceramix Ltd, Bulgaria (2009) ; Converse in Your Mind, Converse Elmec Sport Bulgaria (2008).
Leda Vaneva is using a combination of diverse media in her works, most often photography and video. She explores the world and the place of people in it. Leda is searching for explanations for the peculiarities of human nature and ways for self- actualization.
What we think is real is constructed in our head. Taking all the information from our sensory input and considering our core beliefs the brain builds the pictures of our realities. Objective reality is a contract between people. As far as the eye can see 2 is breaking that contract.
The work brings up the old question of what is really real. It includes elements of the reality as we know it but it is letting go of the conventionally perceived experiences and is sliding to the imaginable. “Real” images at first glance only.
