Theatre, art and drama have moved online worldwide, and Nanjing is no exception. Graduating students at Nanjing International School (NIS) have put their Visual Arts Exhibition online to satisfy curriculum requirements, finding a whole new audience in the process.
As a requirement of the International Baccalaureate (IB), students preparing for the Grade 12 Visual Arts exhibition were this year left with but one choice; go online. And so they found themselves adapting to the Covid-19 outbreak as professionals do everywhere; ready to take initiative and create solutions to the kinds of problems that arise in the workplace every day.
Normally, the works created in part to satisfy educational authorities might not see much light of day beyond the walls of NIS. Online exhibitions have until now been seen as a “value added extra”; this year, they the value in themselves.
An additional requirement, like any exhibition worth its salt, is the Curatorial Rationale.
Shuyang: “As a Chinese girl, I questioned for the skewed aesthetic around China nowadays; as an international student. Therefore, the whole portfolio is about “my identity”. I intend to find who I am by doing different art projects, to express my points of view of the world, as well as the points of view about some societal problem.”
Chea Vitou: “Urban Environment reflects on the relationship between organisms in their natural habitats and the growth of cities around them. I have always been a naturalist but having grown up in an ever-expanding city. I have been constantly reflecting this contrast through my art. Throughout my two years in Visual Arts, by exploring a variety of media and feeling inspired by a number of artists, a familiar thread emerged; that is of my home, my heritage, and my origin: Cambodia.”
Anna: “I started the Diploma Program off thinking all my pieces need to contain a message, criticizing main aspects of the society as we know it; power relations, sexism, racism and capitalism to only name a few of them. I created two artworks during this phase, both based on the monetary currencies and humanities dependency on them.”
Zhen: “Reality, truth, and belief are words that represent philosophical ideas that do not have explicit explanations and are often argued and challenged. These words often prompt profound thinking and thoughtful reflections. I believe that art is a form of language and should not only focus on aesthetics but also to be used to communicate ideas.”
Pauline: “I often found my inspiration through nature and the concepts of the 4 elements. I could further expanded these to different ideas linking to perspective and reflection. Based on this, I have chosen the liquid and manipulatable materials, allowing me to displaying the concept of flow through my materials.”
Jakob: “My vision for my body of work is to help my audience understand that even though some might have different appearances we are all living in the same world and can love and feel just as anyone else. Not only did I want to display a conceptual message but was also interested in the technical aspect of art, realism in particular.”
Inés: “Before the person even accepts their imperfection, they would try to hide it. Including this in my exhibition brings the audience closer to the art so they begin to trust it. It is unreal to expect people to simply accept their imperfection without trying to hide them.”
Yeomyeong: “Due to I have ever not try to use Photoshop and it was a great experience and opportunity to extend my skills. Another Photoshop piece, Hercules, do not have any cloud as Artemis & Orion picture. Therefore, I wanted to show my various Photoshop skills as color correction to express mythology’s characteristic unique atmosphere.”
Zhu: “While the audience looking at my pieces, I want them to feel the emotions and see the experiences I felt through my dreams. The purpose is that I want the audience to see the paintings, and feel resonance with the emotions in the dreams, because the painting is very abstract, so it would be hard for audience to understand the concept straight sway but they would be thinking about the meaning of the painting while looking at it.”
Shao Tung: “Through my artworks, I intend my audience to be aware of protecting the environment and the impact their actions bring to the environment. All of my exhibit pieces are carefully created to have a strong connection to my artistic intention and theme. My themes are constructed with three words “urbanization, nature and environment.” With the improvement of technology and living standard in most nations, humans started to ignore the essential things that support lifes on earth, which are air, clean water, soil and forests.”
Visual Arts Teacher at NIS, Morgan Krajczar, was quoted as saying, “Because we could not have our Exhibition, I hope this Virtual Gallery can be our own celebration of the Class of 2020’s diverse and unique art work.”
The complete exhibition can be visited by following this link.
