Vesela Hadzhiyska is a Bulgarian visual artist and photographer whose practice moves between photography, painting, and digital art. Her work explores human identity, inner states, and the boundary between the visible and the imagined, often combining real and constructed imagery through a surreal visual language.
She holds a Master’s degree in Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Economics – Varna. She has further developed her creative practice through studies in photography, calligraphy, and digital marketing. This diverse background has shaped an interdisciplinary approach in which photography, drawing, composition, typography, and digital technologies can coexist as parts of a single artistic process.
Her work has been presented in international exhibitions and selections, and her photography and visual art have received recognition in international competitions. Her distinctions include awards and honours from the Global Photography Awards, International Photography Awards, New York Photography Awards, and American Art Awards, as well as selection for 100 Emerging Artworks 2025 by Arts to Hearts Project.
In her current practice, Hadzhiyska is increasingly interested in the intersection between traditional authorship and emerging technologies. She works with photography, painting, digital image-making, and AI-assisted tools according to the needs of each individual idea, while keeping concept and human artistic decision-making at the centre of her creative process.
Her current project, The Unphotographed Self, explores the part of human identity that cannot be directly photographed. While a camera can record a face, body, gesture, or moment, it cannot capture the inner image shaped by memory, fear, desire, roles, and contradictions. Through six monochrome works and a digital sculpture concept, Hadzhiyska constructs visual forms for these unseen aspects of the self. AI-assisted processes are used as a tool for creating images that have no physical reality in front of the camera, while the concept, artistic direction, symbolism, composition, selection, and final decisions remain part of the artist’s authorial process.
