The People's Choice award for the Evergreen Cultural Centre's Emerging Talent XV exhibit has been awarded to Gleneagle secondary student Anna Semyonova.
Her painting, titled Soul Portrait, described her piece as inspired by a dream.
"I portrayed my best friend in a dream-like appearance," the 17-year-old said in a release. "Childhood is often the time when there are no boundaries for one's imagination. I wanted to show how our childhood was like - we imagined ourselves as mysterious creatures living in a magical world where we could do anything we wanted."
The ladybug on the girl's cheek evoked the sense that, as children, they seemed to be closer to nature than to people.
Semyonova graduates this spring and has applied to several post-secondary schools, including the Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the University of the Arts in London, England. She also participated in the first semester of Evergreen's new program for youth, Teens@Evergreen, in which participants worked in groups to create a short documentary film.
Semyonova's documentary Emergence premiered at the Emerging Talent Film Festival at Evergreen on Jan. 22. She'll be back at Teens@Evergreen this year and will work on a mural project with local artist Judith M. Atkinson.
