Irina Petrova

Short Biography

Irina studied fine art at the Academy of Architecture and Art of the Southern Federal University, graduating in 2016. She later trained as an art teacher and as an art therapist, and in 2023 she began developing cultural projects. Her work gained international attention in 2023, when she held solo exhibitions in Seoul and won awards in New York and South Korea. Since then she has exhibited in the United States and Indonesia, and her work has appeared in several international art publications.

Education

Irina studied at the Faculty of Art and Graphics, Department of Fine Arts, at the Academy of Architecture and Art of the Southern Federal University from 2010 to 2016. In 2019 she completed advanced training in art teaching at Moscow Pedagogical University. She went on to train in art therapy at the Academy of Art Therapy, completing ‘Art Therapy in Working with Children’ in 2020 and ‘Practice of Art Therapy’ in 2021. In 2023 she began the ZIL project on creating cultural projects.

Exhibitions

Irina has held three solo exhibitions: ‘In Search of Harmony’ at Studio Quesera, Seoul (2023), ‘Balance’ in Kun’s Gallery’s virtual gallery, Seoul (2023), and ‘External\Internal Here and Now’ at Gallery Place One, Nizhny Tagil (2024). Her recent group exhibitions include ‘Connection and Creativity’ at Blue Karma Creative Hub, Bali (2026), and ‘The Power of She’ at Sadik Gallery, Bali (2025). In 2024 she showed in ‘Warm Canvases’ at Artseeker Gallery, New York, and ‘Art Spectrum’ during Miami Art Week. In the United States in 2023 she showed in ‘Women: Balance of the World’ at MoRA Museum, New Jersey, ‘Nature Without Recognition: Is It About Human Blindness?’ in New York and ‘Just Summer on My Mind’ at Artseeker Gallery, Miami. In Moscow she has shown in ‘Fulcrum’ and ‘Dot. Line. Space’ at the Artishok cultural centre (2023), ‘Wow’ at Gallery ‘Here’ on Taganka (2022 to 2023) and ‘#TOGETHER’ at the National Russian Museum of Decorative Arts (2022). Earlier exhibitions include ‘In Isolation’ at Gallery U.ge, St Petersburg (2021), and an international exhibition in the metaverse with Virtual Artist Hub by The Pending (2023).

Awards

In 2023 Irina won the People’s Choice Award at the exhibition ‘Nature Without Recognition: Is It About Human Blindness?’ in New York. The same year she won third place in the international Art Prize of Kun’s Gallery in Seoul. In April 2020 she was one of the winners of the international ‘Art in Quarantine’ competition, organized by the Synergy Art Academy, Art Russia and the Atmosphere Art Perspective International Team.

Artistic Style

Irina’s paintings explore what it means to live in constant transition, moving between roles, identities and ways of life. She asks how a person can hold on to a sense of self when the world keeps changing. Her work also looks at where we can find stability when familiar ideas of home and belonging no longer feel secure. Through painting, she looks for inner balance and personal support, and for the idea that a person can become a home for themselves. Her training in art therapy adds to this focus on the inner life.

Additional Information

In 2023, Irina collaborated with Quesera in Seoul on a jewelry collection based on her work. Her work has appeared in several publications, including the Art Muse Art Magazine catalogue (2025) and the catalogue ‘To Get There with a Woman’, part of the Collateral Programme of the Venice Biennale (2024). Her series ‘In Search of Harmony’ joined the Climate Art Collection in Berlin (2023). Her exhibitions and works have been covered by Business Newswire, Glamour Buff, BURO, Collection Magazine and DEL’ARTE magazine.