Untitled 2022

Alevtyna Kakhidze made this drawing on paper in 2022. It looks like she's used marker pens, maybe even crayons. I can imagine her making this. There’s the blocky Nutella sign – as if that's a Ukrainian brand – and the goods from Europe being sent to Belarus, and then the tanks and soldiers. I can imagine her feeling overwhelmed, sitting at the kitchen table, trying to make sense of everything. She's writing the words "Western politicians if you don't close the sky over Ukraine, please close the Belarus/Russia border with EU goods – it will stop the Russian army a bit.” I like the way she puts her thoughts down directly, with no messing. It reminds me of the kind of work that artists like Nancy Spero made – raw and angry and immediate. When an artist is responding to life like this, they use the language that they have at hand – it's like a diary entry, a form of protest and witness.