Artist Profile: Stefania Shevchenko
This is the first in a series of interviews with Sugar Glider Digital’s artists, where we explore their practice and perspectives on digital art.
Stefania Shevchenko, Ocean Continuum, 2019. Photography: Anwyn Howarth.
Stefania Shevchenko is an interdisciplinary artist who creates immersive visual narratives that ponder the planet’s evolution through futuristic landscapes. Shevchenko holds a Bachelor of Fine Art, majoring in Expanded Practice at Griffith University Queensland College of Art.
Shevchenko was involved with one of Art Pharmacy’s first large scale digital art projects at 100 Creek Street, Brisbane in 2019.
When, and why did you start making digital art?
I went back to university in 2017, where I did sculpture work with Chris Bennie. He ran an intensive course called Process and Experimentation, where there were no restrictions at all. I started to create a series of sculptures that I digitally enhanced, which I then projected and made into an installation. That started everything. Two years later, I was in the Flight Centre Corporate building with the exact same series which I made in that class!
How has your digital art practice evolved since you started?
At first, my physical sculptures led the digital. Over time, the digital started to lead my physical.
I found the outcome of my physical experimentation was way bigger in the digital world than it was in the physical. The reactions to the physical were sometimes like, is this it? Whereas when people saw the digital, it was always like, this is very strong, what is this?
Tell us about your favourite digital art project.
My first major digital series, which I described as ‘Expanded Sculpture’, was in collaboration with Art Pharmacy. I loved the tongue-in-cheek humour of looking at ourselves as a species, but I also loved turning a corporate environment on its head, and activating a space with such full-on artworks.
At 100 Creek Street, Art Pharmacy had 5 or 6 artists who were not what you would see around Brisbane or Australia at all, and we had this incredible platform on these 2 x 2 metre cinematic screens.
What would you like to see more of in the digital art world?
Education and a wider acceptance are two things I’d like to see more of. Digital art isn’t just one thing. The digital art world needs activation. I don’t look like a lot of the other artists on your platform. We all wear different hats. I love Billy Ryan and Mia Forrest’s work - we all follow and admire each other because we are so different in what we do. There is so much variety.
Who are your 3 favourite digital artists at the moment?
Andy Thomas, Refik Anadol and Doug Aitken.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to try making digital art?
Be creative and bold, take risks, don’t be afraid of the stigma.
Image: Ocean Continuum, 2019, and Oceanic Convergence, 2022
Photography: Anwyn Howarth, Jacquie Manning and Claire Armstrong