Three young people from Greater Geelong are taking their art to the next level with pieces being showcased at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
NGV’s Top Arts exhibition will showcase the talent and dedication of students who have excelled in their VCE art subjects at The Ian Potter Centre from Friday 13 March.
Poppy Nivarovich, 18, worked on her painting series Birds and People during her last year at Belmont Highschool, with her work featured during the exhibition.
“My artwork is about the connection between animals and humans, but specifically birds…and I wanted to express that through combining birds and people in portraits,” she said.
“Birds can be pretty territorial and aggressive, and it kind of mirrors human behaviour because we might have aggressive thoughts, and sometimes people do, and it’s a bit crazy.”
Shaun McKearney, also formerly from Belmont Highschool, said it was a great feeling to have his painting titled Me vs Me, which stages a boxing match between two versions of himself, on display at the NGV.
“With it being my final artwork created for year 12, it was representative of being my final battle of finishing high school,” he said.
“So, it portrayed fighting myself in becoming the artist that I want to be and the person I want to be, while forming my identity as somebody outside of school and education.”
The Geelong College’s Lex Blockey also explored references to historical fashion to illuminate contemporary perspectives on gender identity through dress creation, Transformations: A Reflection of Identity.
