Untitled 2022

This drawing, made by Alevtyna Kakhidze, probably with ink and colored markers, feels like a page torn straight from a visual diary. The gestures are raw, immediate. You can sense the artist wrestling with ideas, emotions bubbling up as the image takes shape. I'm drawn to the figure on the left, face ablaze with red. The artist writes that they have drawn with blush for shame in their past. What does it mean to literally blush with shame on a drawing? I wonder what was going through their head as they made this piece. The drawing reminds me of Nancy Spero’s scroll paintings, or maybe the protest art of Emory Douglas—work that wears its heart on its sleeve. Artists are always talking to each other across time, riffing off one another, creating this incredible conversation that never really ends. And here, Kakhidze adds her voice, full of urgency, honesty, and a fierce refusal to look away.