Untitled 2022

This untitled drawing was made by Alevtyna Kakhidze in March 2022, using what looks like coloured markers. It’s rendered with a nervous energy, and feels incredibly immediate. The drawing lays out a stark, geopolitical reality with tanks and arrows, but then undermines it with disclaimers, like the phrase, “BUT military HARDWARE of UKRAINE is just NOT DRAWN… for safety REASONS…!” It’s like she’s saying one thing, and thinking another, a kind of double consciousness which many artists employ as a coping mechanism. The yellow lines that connect the place names are especially affecting. They’re drawn with a childlike casualness, but they signify trajectories of power, control and violence, and the awareness that even the simplest mark can take on multiple meanings in the space of art. I’m reminded of Nancy Spero, or even Klee, artists who manage to make work that is both playful and deeply political.