25.02. What Russia is 2022

Curator: Right, let's dive in. Here we have Alevtyna Kakhidze's piece, "25.02. What Russia is," created in 2022. It's primarily pen and ink on paper. I am curious, what is your immediate reading? Editor: Raw. It feels almost like a child's drawing, but the naivety is laced with anger. A simplicity that makes the message cut deeper, wouldn’t you agree? It definitely gives me the chills. Curator: I think you’ve captured something essential. Visually, we see the almost frenetic, linear style. Look how she deploys the text as part of the composition. It reads like propaganda slogans versus quiet moments, snapshots of citizens going about their day. Editor: Precisely! See the banners and tanks, stark and uncompromising; then these little windows into lives – the line drawing of two folks at a table with a Russian flag – this highlights the dichotomy of reality and… the rhetoric around the reality, I suppose? The artist does an amazing job of juxtaposing visual components in order to illustrate the absurd narratives justifying violence and political motivations with direct images of everyday life.. Curator: Exactly. It’s also powerful because it is drawn with the feel of folk art or even protest art of previous decades, subverting what is expected from contemporary art. It gives it this layer of authenticity, maybe a connection to the past but with present context. Editor: There’s such honesty in that choice. It avoids artifice. But also—I can almost *feel* the urgency in the linework. The stark contrast against the blank white space only serves to highlight the chaotic tension the artist must have been feeling, it resonates in my chest. What a narrative, so brutally candid and yet strangely endearing despite its tragic context. Curator: I think that blend is the real strength. This artwork is a reflection, almost like a mirror to conflict through simple illustration.