Self Portrait Dated 14.02.2022 2022

Curator: This is "Self Portrait Dated 14.02.2022" by Alevtyna Kakhidze, created in 2022 using ink. It’s a drawing filled with narrative, a very contemporary piece done in simple, elegant lines. Editor: Immediately, I feel this palpable tension, like a visual representation of anxiety. The contrast is striking. You've got this almost naive drawing style juxtaposed with what appears to be military weaponry on the right. Curator: Exactly! It's interesting how she blends the personal with the political, isn’t it? You see, on one side there are images of gifts and little messages, “How are you?”, that kind of thing. There are also planes with Russian insignias to the right. A clear reference to the war, just days before the invasion of Ukraine. Editor: It brings to mind the work of artists like Leon Golub, who weren't afraid to depict the brutal realities of power. Kakhidze here, in her self-portrait, seems almost suspended between worlds – between personal comforts and impending violence. Curator: And there's a rawness to it. The vulnerability of putting yourself in the center of this chaotic scene. You are never sure whether to consider yourself responsible, lost, a survivor… Editor: I think the medium contributes to that feeling as well. Ink drawings have an immediacy to them. There's no room for revision; it's direct. It amplifies the emotional impact. The messages scrawled around create this sense of fragmented communication too, of a world trying to connect even as it’s falling apart. Curator: Also, she names brands of weapon on the present packages - NLAW, Spark. An attempt, as ever, to understand, label and maybe… disarm conflict via art? Editor: The artist gives the scene her subjective dimension while placing it inside a precise context. In art, maybe more so than anywhere else, those acts give back power to the voiceless. Curator: Absolutely. I think this piece serves as a powerful reminder that even in the face of overwhelming geopolitical events, the personal, the human experience persists. Editor: Indeed, art becomes this archive, this act of bearing witness. Something to think about during dark days and keep forever after.