Pictoria Vark

Vark grew up in the state of New Jersey,^[1][2][3] where she lived in Bergen County.^[4] She is of Korean descent.^[4] She took piano lessons at the age of four^[2][3] and played guitar in the fifth grade.^[5] When she was the age of nineteen,^[6] her family unexpectedly moved to the state of Wyoming.^[2] She attended Grinnell College in Iowa,^[2] where she earned a degree in French.^[4]

Vark wrote and performed music beginning in high school,^[2] although she did not feel that she was a musician until she was in college.^[5] Vark's stage name is a spoonerism of her full name of Victoria Park.^[3] She and musician Ella Williams, known by her stage name Squirrel Flower, met while attending Grinnell College^[7] and began touring together.^[2] She has worked as a touring bassist for Squirrel Flower for several years following and the rock band Pinkshift in 2022.^[2][3][7] She released her debut extended play, self-titled, in 2018.^[2][7] She later signed with the independent record label Get Better Records.^[2] She released her debut album, The Parts I Dread,^[8] on April 8, 2022.^[5][7][9] Her second album, Nothing Sticks,^[10] released on March 21, 2025.^[11]

During the period when she recorded and released The Parts I Dread, Vark lived in Iowa City, Iowa.^[2][4][7] She later moved to Chicago.^[4][11] She has worked in various non-performing roles within the music industry.^[2][5]