A Students Self-Expression Through Their Art

January 31, 2020

Academics

GNS

From embroidery to sculptures and photography Polina Vitrouk ’20 will soon showcase a wide variety of art pieces that she sees as self-expression. Her art will form part of the IB Art Exhibition running from March 4 to7, when she curates 14 of her pieces to the student body.

The art exhibition is an opportunity for Grade 12 students to share the accumulation of work they have completed over the past two years. The way they curate their pieces gives spectators a unique view of what the students have accomplished.

“I think most of my art falls under a similar category,” Polina explains. “I do a lot of pieces on identity, specifically female identity and questioning what it looks like. I think that’s personal for me and most areas of my life.”

Most of the volunteering she has done has revolved around women’s rights, which can be seen as an influence in her pieces. An example can be seen in her photography piece that is hanging at the front of the Senior School office. She used a dress to capture the question of who does the dress belong to? Is a woman, or can anyone wear it?

“With that dress I got my friend Will to pose in it and wear the dress,” Polina explained. “What was cool was when we were doing the pictures he was like ‘I feel really pretty. I want to wear dresses more often.’ And he’s a super masculine hockey player, so it was cool to see that. That’s what is special, that my art project got someone else thinking, and now he’s started having more conservations about it.”

Polina has been working on her pieces for the past two years and has a wide variety to showcase. Some pieces include sculpture, embroidery work (which is her passion), textiles and the black and white photography piece mentioned above.

While she says her art doesn’t flow visually, it certainly flows conceptually. The most current piece she is finishing is a diptych, which is two pieces of art. One image is of a man and the other is a woman and she is taking an abstract vision to it.

Polina has also recently been influenced by Israeli-American fabric artist Orly Cogan.

“All of her art is crazy fun and things of women, but with layered fabrics and other detailing— it’s just cool,” she said.

Art will forever be in Polina’s life. While she isn’t planning on studying it in school, she surrounds herself with it. She hopes to focus on Indigenous studies when she graduates from GNS and will keep her love for art and Indigenous history at the forefront.

“There are too many things I want to learn about to just go straight to art school,” she adds. “I have too many interests, but I definitely will continue to take art throughout the rest of my life and make art.”

The Art Exhibition, which takes place in the Denford Hall foyer, coincides with the Senior School musical production of Mary Poppins which runs from March 4 to 7. Polina encourages all to come out and see her and five other classmate’s pieces.

“First, it’s cool art by your peers, and my friends and I have put in so much effort into it,” she said. “The second thing is the art exhibit falls in line with the musical, which I’m also in so you should come out for that …thirdly I think everyone needs creativity in their life and I think everyone needs art in their life.”