About Polina Schneider
Born in St. Petersburg during the harsh times of the Perestroika and growing up in different languages, cultures and religious believes (Catholicism, Judaism and Russian Orthodox) has sharpen Polina Schneider’s instincts towards the way people interact with each other. In 1997, she migrated to Germany where she faced another cultural perspective.
Therefore, in her photography, Polina contrasts and processes leitmotifs of her own search for identity, environmental topics and cultural and political issues.
She participated in the International Environmental Photography Lab by the Native Agency and was chosen as an emerging artist by Women Art Prize/X-Treme with an exhibition in Berlin. She promotes the issues on which the association is based, namely: drawing attention to social wrongs, shaping public discourse and ensuring that the perspectives of women are perceived by the public.
Polina is a true long-term student: She studied Computer Science first and continued with Chinese as a Foreign language later, proving that languages and IT and women do not have to be a contradiction. After graduating with two Bachelor degrees in 2018, she recently came back to the university world and is now enrolled into the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program in Hannover. In the same year, she joined the socially critical collective “Tuerspion” (English: door viewer).
In October 2022, „L.A. photo curator“ chose Polina’s documentary work about a seal center in the Netherlands as their best series. Since then, Polina participated in various photo exhibitions in Europe and USA: in Berlin, Rome, Hannover, Hamburg, Paris, Pittsburg, Sofia and Klagenfurt. The gallery space „Geste Paris“ and the American art magazine „Dek Unu“ both published Polina’s recent „I, Superhero“ project, which also won the 2023 debut award of Phodar Biennale in Bulgaria, Sofia and was exhibited in several times in Germany and the Netherlands. At Pasadena Photography Arts, Polina presented the entire series in their open show. Starting from February 2024 and continuing for half a year, Polina will have her first solo exhibition at the city hall in Berlin Reinickendorf.
Moreover, Polina is part of the self-founded photo collective C21, where six female photographers from all around the globe are devoting themselves towards environmental photography and alternative, inclusive storytelling. Their first, subtle introduction to the public happened at Zingst Festival 2023.
