Dessislava Terzieva is a Bulgarian-American contemporary artist based between Detroit and Sofia. She earned a BA in Political Science from Oakland University and an MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2021 where she won the Museum Purchase Award and her work was accessioned into the permanent collection of Cranbrook Art Museum. Before attending Cranbrook, Terzieva made a name for herself as a prominent figure in the Detroit art scene; exhibiting in off-site locations, curating independent art spaces, and executing interactive and immersive installations in the public sphere. She has exhibited in the United States and internationally, including: ART-O-RAMA in Marseille, France; KO-OP in Sofia, Bulgaria; College for Creative Studies Center Gallery in Detroit, Michigan; Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio; Aether Haha in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Huron Art Space in San Francisco, California; Mönchskirche in Salzwedel, Germany, Guck mal Günther, Kunst in Lenzburg, Switzerland, International Biennale of Santorini in Santorini, Greece; Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She has been awarded a residency at Hestia (Serbia), Bedsuy Art Residency (New York), Atelierhaus Hilmsen (Germany), and World of Co (Bulgaria). In 2021, she founded FIDANA Foundation, a non-profit organization facilitating contemporary art and interventions in public spaces using the pre-existing infrastructure.

All The Places I’ve Called Home; 1989-2020 (i-iii), 2020 is a map, an atlas, an exploration of home. It is a screenshot of the past and foresight into the future.

I am a sponge: I soak up experiences, sights, and ideas until it’s time to ring myself dry and make sense of it all. The methods of expression vary from sculpture to installation, interactive performance to photography, etc. I let the work dictate the method of execution which carries from paper collage to found object sculpture, photography to performance, public intervention to immersive installation.

My studio depends on location. I have been traveling a lot this past year. If ever I cannot acquire a space or am in a place for too short a time, I work in the street. Location, too, dictates medium and materials.