End of the Year Issue
By Isabella Hehl Dalla Zuanna
December 31, 2022
In an environment where we are all united by our fervent interest in politics, international relations and heated discussions, discreet yet extraordinary artists walk among us almost unnoticed. After discovering a fellow student with such talents, I was amazed by her gift of composing original music, writing psychological short stories and creating beautiful visual art. Her discretion concerning her abilities first went overlooked; however, once I was exposed to them, I suddenly saw a different side of her: her quiet observation of others, her unique perspective on the conditions of existence, and especially: her view on Sciences Po and Sciences Pistes, which was so different from mine, and so much more beautiful.
This Sciences Piste, Qiuyi He, is a Chinese exchange student from the London School of Economics (LSE). Over a month ago, I decided that I needed to interview her — she deserved attention for her sharp and original mind, and Sciences Pistes should know of her. To her, “music is like my bed, where I can sneak in when I feel depressed, and art is the sample of my time. Writing to me is like blood.” Using art to show her true self — the side both known to the public and the side she keeps private — I understood that, to her, the world is art, and her perspective on the university I have become accustomed to for the last semester would radically change mine. I also hoped to share with other Sciences Pistes the advice she gave me: in an era of transition, where my opportunities are endless and my future is completely unknown, finding what I want in life and solidifying my sense of identity can be eased through artistic methods.
Many of her written pieces twirl around questions of identity. When I asked about those, she responded, “I consider art an exit for emotions…that you don’t usually show in front of people. It’s an exit to leave these things out and (evoke) something in other people. I really love the word ‘resonance’ because for those creative works, not just visual art, but writing, music, you find something identical when you listen to it, when you see it, so it’s like something that links you with others. Pain is (expressed) more… than happiness in music or visual arts. I use visual art for identity, pain and personal growth.”
Art can have a beautiful and even reviving impact on others’ lives: “If I had no art, I would have been dead a hundred times. Art is saving me from those emotions like floods. Art is giving me fresh air to breathe from reality. I always say reading and composing art is sort of like escaping... By extracting two hours from your day and just concentrating on one thing, peacefully, without any disturbance, it’s a kind of way to live with yourself, truly.”
According to Qiuyi, although “everybody is crazy about political science” at Sciences Po, we may not notice how important of a role art plays in connecting us, as she believes that “everybody is born an artist.” Even in simple activities such as the stone painting of the Bureau Des Élèves, just several paint brush strokes can cause art to emerge. The beauty of art perhaps lies in its duality: everyone creates something unique, yet which can be seen and felt by all; it can also express such pain and tragedy, yet the process of its creation is reviving and uplifting.
Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned from Qiuyi was when she told me, “I cannot imagine what Sciences Po would be like without the piano room. The piano room is the only purely artistic place on campus, physically. Firstly, it’s open to the public, so everybody can enter. Most of the time, you can see that someone, or a group, is playing inside, and people would hear something like the piano, or singing from outside, so it’s kind of connecting the person inside and outside. And secondly, I knew a lot of people while I was playing the piano — they entered, and we talked and sort of got to know each other. I feel like it’s a socializing place, but more importantly, a place for people with common interests.”
Lastly, Qiuyi gave me some advice which can be applied to all young adults: “For myself, the most anxiety comes from being too realistic, so I think art is an important tool for us to shift from realistic to idealistic. A person is always balanced between these two states, and I feel like art is one major component of the idealistic part. I think Sciences Po is, to some extent, quite like LSE where most people would be considered utilitarian, but when they do art, you’ll see them as quite different.”
Furthermore, Qiuyi shared, “Our age is a key stage for finding your true self. I know a lot of people getting mental health advice from professionals and you know that art is like a tool that they give you a lot when they do the consultation. Art is an expressive tool for a lot of things that you can’t express. If you don’t know what you’re going to do in the future, just take some time in front of the desk and do one or two hours of meditation and just randomly draw something, even if you’re not a professional artist, or haven’t learned to systematically draw, this is perfect quality time for you to be with yourself and actually be producing something solid. That can be helpful. I think art is a medium for everything in the world. Even for politics, you have exhibitions, you have lectures, you have powerpoints, so art is like a carrier of a lot of things in the world that can actually play a role of spreading everything to reach a vast population. If you are interested in music and art you can go to the cinema, to see movies, or to listen to orchestras or musicals, operas and art exhibitions, museums. For 0.1 seconds, you notice, ‘hey, there really is something I want to do my whole life.’ It’s not necessarily art but what art carries: those themes or even a page of introduction on the brochure of the artistic event you attend. It can be inspiring for people to walk out of their own comfort zone and look at other worlds as well, and suddenly you’ll find what you want to do for your future.”
The therapeutic impacts of art cannot be expressed in words: we can help our understanding of our own identity and that of others. As an artist, Qiuyi has learned that “identity is not something someone can give you; it’s not about defining yourself, but to construct an image of yourself. So this music, this art, all the things I did, are not to define myself but to describe myself and to record. Art is like a piece of my time. So when I look back, I want to still see a vivid picture of myself right now, right here with this person. What was I like in the past? I want to keep this fresh, just like you do your food with a container in the fridge. I want to keep that feeling for as long as possible, and that’s why I keep writing diaries and recording my dreams. Concerning identity, you’ll see that you treat other people differently. All you know about a person is your own perspective. And I myself don’t know how to describe myself. It’s an interesting thing to do when you explore yourself because there’s always something that you haven’t noticed yet. People say their whole life is a journey that you negotiate with yourself, that you live with yourself, that you adapt yourself to. I feel as though that’s quite true because no one can accompany us forever, it’s just us with us. All I have is me and my art.”
Attached below are some of her songs and short stories: