Untitled 2022

Editor: We’re looking at a work from 2022 titled “Untitled” by Alevtyna Kakhidze. It seems to be done with pen and ink. It strikes me as a kind of visual commentary – a response, perhaps even a protest? What’s your read on it? Curator: Oh, absolutely. I see it as a visual diary entry, almost a stream-of-consciousness spilled onto the page. The bold lines, the handwritten text…it's immediate, urgent. It has that raw energy I associate with responding to a crisis in real-time. Tell me, what feeling does that directness evoke for you? Editor: It feels a bit chaotic, like the artist is trying to grapple with a lot of conflicting ideas at once. There's the Russian flag, the word "sanctions," faces with names... Curator: Exactly! Kakhidze isn't just drawing; she's engaging in a dialogue. See how the figures seem almost suspended, as if floating within the arguments themselves? What do you make of the empty container-like object looming at the center of it? Does that spark an idea for you? Editor: It is intriguing! Considering everything else on the page, maybe it represents the weight or emptiness caused by sanctions, but also the lack of communication because of the sanctions... a hollow core. I do think I need to brush up on my Russian to fully appreciate all the nuances! Curator: A worthy pursuit! It seems the artist has constructed their own language on the page. Think of the piece not as a straightforward illustration, but as a thought process made visible, with all its detours, contradictions, and unresolved questions. Editor: So, it’s less about a single answer and more about the questions raised, presented visually. That shifts my perspective. Curator: Precisely. Art, like life, rarely offers neat conclusions. Sometimes, the real value lies in the messy, the unresolved – the act of questioning itself.