Ksenia Poncet

Ksenia Poncet, French artist, was born in 1983 in Russia. At that time, her hometown was still called Leningrad. She drew her first sketches at the age of five and spent part of her childhood in the silent and dark rooms of the State Hermitage Museum. Then, at the age of thirteen, her dream finally...

Ksenia Poncet, French artist, was born in 1983 in Russia. At that time, her hometown was still called Leningrad. She drew her first sketches at the age of five and spent part of her childhood in the silent and dark rooms of the State Hermitage Museum. Then, at the age of thirteen, her dream finally came true. She pushed open the doors of the Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy, a legendary place, and took drawing and painting classes at Elvira Tibilova’s workshop. This learning period was strongly influenced by academic art, which the budding artist discovered in Russian and European museums. Leningrad, which had been the Soviet showcase for many years, once again became St. Petersburg, Russia’s window onto Europe first opened by Peter the Great several centuries before. Inspired by this overwhelming encounter at the crossroads of two worlds, Ksenia made a series of pastels, watercolours and Indian ink drawings in a style similar to symbolism, under the influence of the works of Mikalojus Ciurlionis.

Following the path of those Russian artists who had left the country to study in Paris before the revolution, Ksenia entered the Sorbonne, where she discovered conceptual and performance arts, and, in parallel, the performing arts. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and decided to put her artistic activity on hold, seeking to channel her entrepreneurial spirit and talents by continuing her studies and obtaining a Master in Business Engineering at ESCG Paris and a Master of Finance at INSEEC Paris Business School.
She started her career working in business development teams in asset management and IT systems for the financial sector. Little by little her life brought her back to art and offered her the opportunity to become a full-time artist.

Through her art, Ksenia promotes the idea of the respect of fundamental human rights, gender and racial equality and equal access to education. Ksenia was volunteer artist for the United Nations Women's Guild in New York for more than four years, where she has contributed through her art to fundraising projects to help children in vulnerable situations all over the world. Ksenia has also participated in several group exhibitions and in 2020 created “Name it!”, Campaign to fight violence against women and girls organized by UN Woman Asia and World Design Organization.
She creates murals for public organizations, in particular for the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures of the University of Nantes in France.

Ksenia lived and worked in Europe (France, Switzerland, The Netherlands), Russia and United States. Since 2021, she is back to her home country France and currently lives and works in Saint-Tropez.