Soshana Afroyim

Soshana Afroyim's drawings were informed from her late childhood; when she was eleven her family fled Austria due to Hitler’s invasion. They fled to Switzerland, Paris and then London where she had painting and drawing lessons. During this time there was bombing over London so every night Afroyim and her family sat in bomb shelters and this made her very stressed, and this was then expressed through a series of drawings. In 1941 Afroyim arrived at Ellis Island with her mother after her father had arrived earlier in the year. At the age of seventeen she travelled around America with her family and began to draw and paint what she saw.

Several years later Afroyim went back to Vienna and then she travelled the world and was inspired by what she saw. A lot of her work has a lonely figure that is surrounded by heavy brush strokes which indicates bars and being trapped. Afroyim paints and draws from the experiences that she had encountered from travelling and also her childhood.

Afroyim's paintings contain meaning and draw on the emotions of the viewer. I like the use of bold and soft brush strokes especially when she paints faces and prison bars.

Berlin Street Art

 

Berlin is one of the few places in europe you can really see the growth of street art. With the struggling economy, the art is growing stronger than the law, making the movement more influential than ever. No desolate building is ever left plain and boring. It was truly an experience to be introduced to a range of work that could make you laugh, reflect and admire.

 

For both  art and photography students, the work encouraged us to understand that the location and presentation of pieces creates a whole new affect for the viewer, as seen in Alias' work of the child behind the metal fence.

 

Alias is a street artist who tends to put his work down low so that children can see it. He encourages his work to cause an open a discussion within people about global and community issues. He is referd to as the Berlin Bansky.

 

Overall the pure scale of the graffiti art we encountered shows the immense dedication and power these artists have, breaking away from the delinquient steryotype attached to streetart. This trip offered a better understanding and new found respect for the people expanding the limits of the artistic world.

Meet the Team............

We are a school group focused on exploring the creative industries, gaining experience for our future career paths and seeking oportunities to develop our skills and understanding in this diverse field. Our aim with this blog is to document our journey.