Polina Sirosh: Portrait of successful young photographer

Polina Sirosh: Portrait of successful young photographer

Damaso Reyes, Contributor, Sanur, Bali

It is hard to find a twenty-six-year-old artist that splits her
time between St. Petersburg and New York City these days, but
there isn't much that is usual about Russian photographer Polina
Sirosh, who is currently holding an exhibition at Pala
Restaurantin Sanur, Bali.

The young photographer grew up during the tumultuous years of
the perestroika in Russia, the era of openness and liberalization
which ultimately played a role in the downfall of the Soviet
government. Full of upheaval herself, Sirosh wasn't happy with
the career choices a smart young woman had at the time.

"You could be a lawyer or an accountant then," she told The
Jakarta Post during a recent interview. "I just couldn't see what
it was all for."

At age 15 and again when she was 17, Sirosh took trips outside
Russia to San Francisco, where she fell in love with America.
"The first trip infected me with the idea that there is something
outside of Russia," she recalled.

In order to pursue her love of travel, she decided to study
International Relations and Diplomacy at St. Petersburg State
University. But before she could finish the course, her love of
art, which first arose during her childhood, took hold. She
decided, like so many before her, that New York was the place
where she would be able to realize her dreams.

"It took me one and a half years before I moved to New York,"
Sirosh said, describing the inner turmoil she felt when faced
with the decision. "I felt like, should I be safe here (in St.
Petersburg), or take a risk and move to New York?"

When she did move, she found a cosmopolitan city full of
artists and she settled herself into the Upper East Side of
Manhattan, only a few blocks away from Central Park and world-
famous museums like the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.

Walking through the park and the galleries of the museums
inspired her to photograph the beauty she saw. At the same time,
she began developing a body of work based upon her interactions,
often intimate, with her friends.

This work formed the basis of her first exhibition, mostly of
erotic photography. It was while she was showing slides of
statues she had taken in Europe and New York when a friend walked
by and she came up with the idea of combining the two, which has
culminated in her current body of work and exhibition: The Loves
of Zeus.

Her work draws heavily on classical Greek mythology to
illustrate the relationships between the gods and mortals,
between Zeus and his many lovers, who give birth to the pantheon
of Greek mythological characters.

"They (Greek myths) were written two thousand years ago, but
we haven't changed much since in our relationships," Sirosh said,
describing the inspiration of her work. "Was it the gods who
created humans, or mortals who created the gods to idealize their
own beliefs?"

Using models who were friends helped create a safe space for
the artist and subjects to explore the identities of characters
like Artemis, Europa and Demeter. The soft and intimate nudes are
juxtaposed with close-ups for classic statues taken in museums
from New York to Florence.

"For me, photography is the opposite of the representation of
reality," Sirosh said when describing her approach to the medium.

"It is about creating my fantasies and showing them in the
photographs." She cites French Impressionists Claude Monet,
Pierre Renoir and Russian Romanticists Mikhail Vrubel, Leon Bakst
and Alexander Benois as her primary influences. Clearly it is
painters, and not photographers, who have communicated to this
young woman.

Even at her age, Sirosh has already held several shows and
intends to continue with her photographic work. After being
invited to Indonesia for her current show, she plans on pursuing
a project on Hindu dance and Asian movement.

This is the first time in Asia for Sirosh, and she plans on
learning as much as she can while she is here, taking that
knowledge and influence with her into the future.