Alina Ponomarenko: "For me, collages are the manifestation of internal freedom"

May 15, 2018

On Monday, May 14, students of the Ostroh Academy were able to practice in the creation of collages in the workshop from Alina Ponomarenko. She is a 3rd year student at the Cultural Studies Faculty of the Humanities Department, who successfully works with glossy editions of Elle and Harper's Bazaar, Ukrainian and foreign brands.

«The concept of faculty`s week this year is a manifestation of freedom. Therefore, when I had to choose a person who would tell about the freedom of creativity, I immediately thought about Alina. I am sure that the majority of those who have come to the workshop today are familiar with the work of this student, since it is almost impossible not to notice them. » - says the organizer Ester Materian.

The student admits that in order to turn a favorite hobby into a profitable business, she had to get used to the deadlines and a written description of the concept of each work under the order.

«For me, collages are a manifestation of internal freedom. I do it at my own pleasure, have no rules or frames, and therefore I show that inside me» - tells a collagist.

A collage is a word from the French language, which means "stick". It emerged that there are many types of collages, as well as historiography of the development of this kind of art. Typically, applications are taught to us at the school, and with other kinds we are only visually familiar.

So, it is distinguished the following types of collage:

• Assemblage is the use of various woven materials on a cardboard, which creates a certain associative series
• Bricolage is the “homemade” collage of improvised materials, which usually aren`t combined. For example, wood and metal
• Decoupage is a transferring the drawing or structure of the material to the surface, covering with varnish
• Photomontage is the use photos as the main tool for collage creation.

Alina mostly works with photo collages, or rather with its kind - digital collage. She has chosen it because of the availability of materials that can be found on the Internet. Another tool is the software (Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator).

The first who combined figurative art with other materials was G. Braque, capturing P. Picasso`s imagination. They mixed the sand with paint and even glued an oilcloth to create volume in the works. From the 20th century, collage is used in the art therapy. Russian photographer O. Abranovych noticed that the collage is similar to still life, because it can be changed to the very end and therefore the artist remains free.

«I accidentally got on this workshop. I had only scissors. I did not have high hopes for this event, but it was for nothing because it was really interesting. All this resembled my childhood, when my friends and I cut out clothes for dolls. At first, I did not attach any importance to what I was doing. Then I realized that if you get a better look, you could even find some meaning. We had freedom of expression. We created, and then shared our impressions of the process. » - shares her impressions 1st year student of journalism Diana Khokhonik.