Shame and Guild presents new work of art of five young artists: Maria Nalbantova, Martin Penev, Martina Vacheva, Nevena Ekimova, Radostin Sedevchev, which are created especially for the exhibition in Vaska Emanuilova Gallery. This is the second part of a trilogy by the curator Galina Dimitrova-Dimova (Fear and Love, 2023 and Care and Healing, 2025) that examines modern understandings and reflections on these primal human feelings and relationships. Shame and Guild shows the point of view on the topic by the five invited artists, each of whom has taken a pronounced critical attitude and individual approach to creating an artwork. The work on the project involved a long research process, with individual research and numerous meetings within the team, as well as with external consultants.

The interest in the topic of shame and guilt comes from the ripe moment in which Bulgarian society is torn between stereotypes and patterns of behaviour that reflect the untold stories and traumas of socialism and the transition in the country. The project focus of exploration is of shame as a moral corrective and the guilt inherited from previous generations. On the one hand exploit one’s personal sense of shame that usually comes from the norms of behaviour imposed by society. On the other hand, reveal the emotional legacy borne by each successive generation. In our context, it is loaded with many problems accumulated over time as a result of the difficult transition from socialism, as well as the deep political crisis and division in society based on attitudes towards the legacy of socialism.

The young artists work reveals what provokes a sense of shame and a sense of guilt in them. Interestingly, most of them chose to deal with “second-hand” shame, which comes from someone else’s actions, or from processes in the public space over which we, as ordinary citizens, have no control. Some of the projects originate in the powerlessness to stop or change human actions or behavioural patterns that affect the life and health of humans or cause calamitous damage to nature.

Martin Penev drew inspiration for his project from a real case in which a patient in a psychiatric clinic lost his life during a fire because he was tied to the bed. Radostin Sedevchev explores the idea of ​​second-hand shame, or Fremdscham, inviting the audience to participate in this process and share a time when someone else’s actions have caused them shame. Martina Vacheva presents the problem of domestic violence and the stereotypes in society that impose silence and shame on the victims. Maria Nalbantova directs our attention to pressing social problems, namely corruption, abuse of power, and unpunished acts of environmental degradation. Nevena Ekimova examines, with a dose of joking and humour, taboos around sex, turning our gaze to the past in order to point us to the present, where communication between young people is becoming more and more difficult due to digital devices.

The exhibition at the Vaska Emanuilova Gallery brings together these diverse perspectives and artistic approaches, constructing a fascinating narrative about shame and guilt in modern society. Sometimes shocking and even brutal, while at other times poetic and humorous, it nevertheless responsibly draws our attention to serious issues. Thus, the exhibition aims to prompt a wider debate on how the younger generation experiences shame and guilt, and how we can overcome the collective trauma of the past to better deal with the challenges of today.