3 minute read
Liubov Bondareva
IB Year 13 Visual Arts Exhibition
My work all relates to my identity. It includes my life experiences of moving from Russia to Phuket. It contains work that illustrates some of my fears and challenges around feeling isolated and difficulties with communication, in particular creating and maintaining friendships.
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Another common link of all my pieces is the theme of emotion. I look at people’s ability to express their emotions during difficult times. I feel I have done this through the shades of paint I have used in my work. I tried to show an understanding of the uncertain ways people could feel themselves within society when they struggle to communicate their emotions and the feelings of loneliness that may come with this.
“Flashbacks” is one of my pieces that has a strong link to the theme of negative emotion. It is a piece that was based on both Lowry’s work and my hometown buildings. I feel the buildings that I chose have a deep meaning of negative emotions, they look dark, unattractive, cold and make me remember some moments that I wanted to remove from my memory.
Some of my artworks (Nature 1,2,3) express finding peace even in hard times and allow us to enjoy that moment. This is why I decided to put these pieces near the beginning of my exhibition.
In my abstract artwork I focus on emotion within the colours used. They are significant to my emotions at the time of creation. By displaying them together I want people to recognise some of their own emotions in my pieces. By arranging them in a circular motion I aimed to have a positive impact on the viewers’ spiritual world that allows them to find peace in the intimate circle.
I start my exhibition with one of my pottery pieces, I have placed one at the start and one at the end of the space. This then collects the pieces in-between. One of the pieces relates to Russia and the other is Phuket. I have displayed the Russian piece first, as this came first in my life. I was born in Russia and am now living in Phuket.
I displayed my self-portrait in pen and the lino cut next to each other as they both relate to similar feelings I had in arriving in Phuket, loneliness and difficulties in communicating and maintaining friendships. I then followed this with my pieces in the style of Van Gogh’s. He also experienced similar emotions and I believe the viewer may see connections between the two. The landscapes in the style of Van Gogh are also supposed to be calm and relaxing and work well in this space.
Overall I have tried to display my pieces from light to dark, this fits with the emotions when creating my work.
During the Pandemic, I believe many people feel the same way as myself. This is why I decided to put all of my pictures in this order because of my thinking that it will be understandable to the people who are experiencing feelings of loneliness, displacement and are seeking peace.
PHUKET Ceramic 30x20cm, January 2022
REST
LOST
RUSSIA Ceramic 30x20cm, January 2022
BEACH Encaustic, Wax, Paper and Acrylic Paint 100x100cm, November 2021
RACISM Collage on Paper 42x59.4 cm, September 2021
FAILING FRIENDSHIPS Linocut Print on Paper, Stitched Book Pages 40x90cm, October 2020
COMMUNICATION
Pen on Paper 59.4x84.1cm, November 2020
BEACH SUNSET
