By: Brooke Johnpier, Music Department Member
Amidst the dark chaos of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a beacon of light shone for a young woman.
Russia had fully invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 and many residents of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, were overcome with fear. To get away from the horrors of war, many people and families fled. Some of those people came to the United States. One of those people was 17-year-old Nora Polinnia.
Her family went to Florida while she moved to New York City to finish her high school education. Successfully doing so, the next step in Polinnia’s plan was to go to college. And after the strenuous application process, she finally settled on The New School, which would also allow her to remain in the “Big Apple.”
Choosing to major in theater and minor in music, Polinnia knew that she was on the right path to becoming a better artist.
“I know that I want my main focus in the future to be music,” said Polinnia. “However, I always felt [that] training as an actor would make me a much more confident artist, performer and person. And I was right.”
Polinnia and longtime collaborator, Martin Nikov, had been working on a song for a little bit, but nothing was really becoming of it. It wasn’t until Polinnia found this new confidence that “Mass Hysteria” became a reality.
“I knew that this song was unlike anything I’ve ever written. It was a piece of exploration,” said Polinnia.
Despite being on opposite sides of the globe, Polinnia worked with her collaborators to create a song that would be the centerpiece of a social art project. The song and recording also became a part of New School’s curriculum.
“[While song]writing, I was completely taken by the concept of ‘Mass Hysteria,’ a social illness without an identifiable cause,” said Polinnia. “And soon after I drew the connection: propaganda is a form of mass hysteria.”
But creating music wasn’t nearly enough for young Polinnia. Something else had to be done, and that came in the form of her fellow classmates and artists expressing the same concerns as her.
“Everybody my age knew that propaganda was bad, but couldn’t pinpoint what to do about it,” said Pollinia. “This disorientation led to laziness, lack of formed opinions and weakness. I wanted to feel a sense of control and clarity. And, I soon found out that many other artists did too.”
Sharing the same sentiment, the name for the social art project came about: #FREEOFPROPAGANDA.
The beacon of light had been found and Polinnia wasted no time at all getting together a crew to make this social art project a reality.
“I brought together an ensemble composed of student musicians, eager to record all the instruments live,” said Polinnia. “So much so that I integrated the song into my university’s curriculum, just to be able to record. Otherwise, the administration wouldn’t have let us into the sound booths.”
With everyone hyped up, the music video for “Mass Hysteria” started to come together a month after the ensemble was finished. Over 20 students chipped in to help make the video happen including dancers, digital artists, filmmakers, actors and stylists.
But the seven-minute film didn’t come easy.
“We shot for only one and a half days [under NYU film director Simon Tosenovsky],” said Polinnia. “The first day we shot all over Manhattan and the second day we shot inside of my university, turning a classroom into [a scene].”
The team even snuck into a black box theater that they didn’t have permission to use to make sure that it turned out exactly how Polinnia wanted it.
The team worked tirelessly over the summer so that the video would be able to be released in time for the project’s exhibition, which was three days before Election Day.
Mryia Gallery on 101 Reade St., New York, New York, hosted a gallery spectacle on Nov. 2 that showcased the work of over 40 students from The New School and New York University (NYU), including Polinnia’s #FREEOFPROPAGANDA.
Apart from the music featured at the propaganda-themed showcase, students displayed visual art that brought awareness as well.
“Propaganda is everywhere you look,” said Polinnia. “It is a tool accessible to us as artists, but it is also a factor threatening our future.”
As a Ukrainian, American politics have always been important to Polinnia. And with what was arguably the most important election in the history of the United States, Polinnia wanted people to use their own minds when deciding whom to vote for, not someone else’s.
But just because the election has come and gone, it doesn’t mean that Nora’s work is done, or #FREEOFPROPAGANDA is obsolete. In fact, quite the opposite, as her message can apply to anything in life, not just elections.
“The initiative of #FREEOFPROPAGANDA is a movement that unites young creatives at a time when the constant disinformation seeks to divide the population,” said Polinnia. “Propaganda divides, [but] we unite.”
The message that Polinnia is trying to convey is simple: it is impossible to protect oneself from propaganda, and yet we have a say in what happens to our future.
“Declare your mind, despite the chaos,” said Polinnia.
Born Polina Nikitina, Polinnia chose her “stage name” when she was just five years old. She knew that her creativity stemmed too far just for her to be Polina, so she chose Nora Polinnia to put an unconventional twist on things.
“In ten years, I see myself doing the exact same thing that I am doing today, just at a larger scale and quicker speed: being a performer, writing [and] working on music, creating global social art projects and acting on the side.”
“Mass Hysteria,” Polinnia’s fourth single, opened up a new chapter for her as a musician. With two EP’s already released (Past Chronicles and Present Chronicles) “Mass Hysteria” showed a whole new side of Polinnia as she hadn’t released any music for a year prior.
“The best art is created by those who live in between reality and fantasy,” said Polinnia.
Listen now – https://open.spotify.com/album/5eKq3B9yWTsdVhOf9zpIMX
Watch the video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0leI2r8yUoM&list=PLQcVSKZ1mmoQ3PFRWLJK3slqamgPZFBUa
Learn more about Polinnia – https://norapolinnia.minisite.ai/
Have questions and/or comments? Contact Brooke at johnpibl23@bonaventure.edu!
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