Liza Gusarova

Profession

Foundation Diploma in Art and Design Alum

College

Central Saint Martins

Person Type

Alumni

Biography

Interview

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspires your work?

I specialise in moving image and art direction, and have been working both in-house and freelance within the fashion, beauty and advertising industries. My work is multidisciplinary and focused around experimentation and collaboration. I’m forever searching for new mediums, techniques and approaches to bring a concept to life and believe the power of collaboration.

What have you been up to since graduating from Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Central Saint Martins?

From the foundation course, I moved onto studying BA Graphic Design at CSM, specialising in Moving Image. This allowed me to further explore and define my practice, leading me to working the Moving Image field professionally.

Can you tell us more about Communitea?

Communitea, created in collaboration with nine fellow CSM graduates, is a fundraising campaign for the London Chinese Community Centre, for whom the pandemic coupled with the rise in xenophobia and Asian hate resulted in the threat of permanent closure.

So, as a creative collective, we’ve set out to change the conversation. We ran two campaigns for which over 60 artists from all around the world came together to create artworks and raise necessary funds for the centre. All artworks were themed around the ancient Chinese ritual of tea – a symbol of welcome and acceptance, in hopes of instigating crucial conversations and show support to the community in need. So far, we have raised over £11,000 for the centre and hope that the project will thrive and continue to inspire creatives to get involved and help their local communities.

How would you describe your experience on the foundation course and how did it encourage the way you work now?

The foundation course gave me an amazing opportunity to explore the possibilities of the creative industry. I always tried to focus on experimentation and not get too tied to a specific medium or practice, hence the projects within my portfolio at the end of Foundation were really varied. Rather than using Foundation to decide on a specific technical direction for my work, it was a time where I grew most confident in my ideas and ability to experiment and concept, regardless of the medium or brief. This approach is still very applicable to my current way of working – despite having narrowed down my preference to Moving Image, I still work with a wide variety of mediums, with my day-to-day varying from animation to DOP work to editing to art direction. The focus for me has always been more on the concept, whilst choosing and adapting the medium to best suit the idea.

What words of advice would you give to a student studying for a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design?

Use this time to explore and discover what you like. Take every opportunity that comes your way and don’t worry about being too precious with every project. There are so many different practices, techniques, mediums and ideas for your to explore that can lead you to surprising and exciting outcomes. An opportunity like this, where you can create what you like and however you like with the support of tutors and peers around you, unfortunately does not come around much in the professional world, so use it while you can.

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