Viliana Korueva transforms fragments of rural Bulgarian domestic life into surrealist visions of the past, reimagining inherited histories through the tension between decay and renewal, the familiar and the surreal.

Rooted in her upbringing in Bulgaria, inspiration is drawn from abandoned and derelict houses, particularly those dating from the mid-19th to early 20th century, and the belongings and traces of everyday life held within them. Her fascination with these spaces stems from the stillness found in places where a lifetime remains preserved in its surroundings and belongings long after its inhabitant is gone. Photography becomes a means of observing and preserving these fragments, creating an archive of memory, place and time.

Her work takes an abstracted and surrealist approach to storytelling, using elements of personal and collective history to construct new narratives, characters and worlds. Craftsmanship and ways of making passed down through the women in her family provide a connection to traditions that are gradually disappearing.