IBDP Visual Arts Exhibition 2026

Yeonseo’s work explores the emotional and psychological nature of memory, examining how past experiences continue to shape the present. Inspired by the fluid and reconstructive qualities of memory, her artworks reflect how emotions, time, and personal reflection influence the way memories are preserved and reimagined. Central to her practice is the juxtaposition within memory. Moments of happiness often return as nostalgia, both comforting and bittersweet reminders of experiences that can no longer be relived. Through realistic portraiture combined with abstract and atmospheric elements, Yeonseo visualizes the tension between warmth and loss that memories can evoke. Recurring motifs such as ghostlike figures and luminous gold threads symbolize the lingering traces of past experiences and the emotional connections formed through shared memories. Through her work, Yeonseo invites viewers to reflect on how memories shape their identities and how present moments may one day become the memories they cherish.

Wiktoria's work explores the intersection of space, memory, shaped by an interest in how environments can influence or reflect emotional states and experiences. Drawing inspiration from Edward Hopper and Wilhelm Sasnal, they transform everyday settings into sites of reflection, where absence becomes as significant as presence. Working across acrylic paint, graphite, and mixed media, Wiktoria depicts familiar spaces such as metro carriages, domestic environments, and confined architectural forms, stripped of people yet marked by traces of human experience. Throughout all their works, the concepts of spaces, time and people are played with and interwoven to convey these easily overlooked experiences and emotions carried within the most mundane moments, inviting the audience to peer through and explore their work and find either themselves or their own meaning within. Their work highlights the lasting imprint of spaces on the human experience, and vice versa, urging the audience to reflect upon the seemingly mundane places in their own lives.

Helen's body of work investigates the shifting nature of connection and disconnection within the contemporary digitalized world, shaped by personal observation and reflection. Her exploration moves through multiple layers of relationships, from isolation and intimacy to familial bonds and digitally mediated interactions, revealing how relationships can both unify and fragment identity. Influenced by artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Antony Gormley, and Chuck Close, her works create a dialogue between presence and absence, questioning whether connection in modern society is genuine or performative. Her artwork encourages the audience to reconsider the nature of relationships, suggesting that belonging is not always stable or authentic, but can be complex, imbalanced, and constantly mutating.

An’s work explores the subtle intersection between movement, observation, and the quiet narratives embedded within everyday life. Rooted in the act of people-watching, she draws inspiration from fleeting gestures and passing interactions, capturing moments that often go unnoticed within the rhythm of busy public spaces. Through careful composition and repetition, these gestures are transformed into visual traces, preserving the otherwise ephemeral nature of movement. By engaging with themes of transience and shared space, she invites viewers to slow down and reconsider their surroundings. Her work becomes an opportunity to reflect on how we move through the world and the subtle imprints we leave behind, ultimately highlighting the quiet beauty and significance of everyday human experience.