I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter 1-3
I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter 1 / Преди вървях с високо вдигната глава, сега светя над останалите
pencil and pale gold on 300lb Fabriano Artistico paper, image size: 20 x 20 cm, Anton Terziev, 2021 Photo: © the artist. Courtesy the artist.
Foto material used: MM artist Micol Di Segni(1987)'s 2021 weigh-in picture. Micol is also an alternative model for the website SuicideGirls since 2007and happens to be one of the most popular adult models in Europe
Title credit: Svetoslav Todorov - journalist, editor and writer
Part of NTFL series (2019-)
Unexhibited
Anton Terziev’s charcoal-and-pigment study *I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter 1* distills raw athletic power and its hidden toll. A female MMA fighter—one of today’s modern-day gladiators—strikes a triumphant flex, yet warm ochres and deep umber washes betray the weight of public expectation she must shoulder. Subtle light illuminates her sculpted torso—an ephemeral victory amid a relentless grind—while shadowed hatchwork evokes the mental strain and the fleeting window of peak performance these fighters endure. More than celebration, the work stands as a warning: our appetite for spectacle mirrors a broader decay of moral values and signals a turning point in Western civilization as we know it—where human struggle is consumed as entertainment at ever greater cost.
In the series No Time for Losers I examine just that – what it takes from you, what and whom you pay, who constructs the content of success as a symbol and metaphor, what is its shelf life? I do it through the well-known moment of triumph, mandatory for sport photographers. A freeze-frame, in which I comment on the role interrelations between the award, the awardee and the award presenter.
I hit the brakes on the rat race for quick, immediate, instagrammable success. This concept is like a tomb. A remarkable pantheon, which you furnish meticulously with awards, trophies in your CV and what not, to the last day of your life.
Whoever wants to be a „relevant participant in the processes“ knows that things like vulnerability, exposedness and sensitivity smell of failure, they don’t make you competitive on the market. Like in sports, whose direct aesthetics I borrow for my series.
From an early age, you have to run in the right lane or track. Lest you compete on top level but outside of the field, or even worse – out of the range of the cameras reporting the game from the pitch.
I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter 2 / Преди вървях с високо вдигната глава, сега светя над останалите
pencil and silver oil on 300lb Fabriano Artistico paper, image size: 24 x 40 cm, Anton Terziev, 2021 Photo: © the artist. Courtesy the artist.
Foto material used: an image of MM artist Megan Anderson weighing in for Invicta FC 17, 2019
Megan has become the latest victim of online bullying. 'Post anything fighting related, I get hate' - Megan Anderson confronts online abuse, rape threats
Title credit: Svetoslav Todorov - journalist, editor and writer
Part of NTFL series (2019-)
Unexhibited
I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter 3 / Преди вървях с високо вдигната глава, сега светя над останалите
pencil and silver oil on 300lb Fabriano Artistico paper, image size: 24 x 40 cm, Anton Terziev, 2021 Photo: © the artist. Courtesy the artist.
Foto material used: MM artist Megan Anderson's image from 2018
Meganhas stood up against online bullying. She regularly tweets about the kind of online harassment she faces.
Title credit: Svetoslav Todorov - journalist, editor and writer
Part of NTFL series (2019-)
Unexhibited
framed size: 73 x 53 x 1.5 cm
I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter 3 - study sketch
Anton Terziev’s I Used To Stand Tall, Now I Stand Brighter (2020) is a bold meditation on identity, power, and gender. The pencil and silver oil drawing of UFC fighter Megan Anderson captures her in a defiant, muscular stance, challenging traditional ideals of femininity and masculinity. The shimmering silver elevates her presence, suggesting a transformation—not just personal, but cultural—in how strength and femininity are perceived.
By highlighting Anderson’s tattoos and physique, Terziev subverts stereotypes, presenting her as both powerful and reflective. The contrast between precise linework and soft silver tones mirrors the tension women in combat sports face: navigating between strength and societal expectations of softness. Her body becomes a site of resistance and redefinition.
The title speaks to evolution—standing not just tall, but brighter—illuminating a broader shift in how we value female strength. Terziev’s portrait is both celebration and critique, revealing the ongoing struggle for recognition within male-dominated arenas. Anderson doesn’t just fit into the world of combat sports—she reshapes it.