Untitled. Srawberry Andreevna 2019

Curator: Alevtyna Kakhidze created this work in 2019, an ink and pen drawing simply titled "Untitled. Srawberry Andreevna." What strikes you initially? Editor: There's a flatness that both intrigues and frustrates. It looks almost child-like in its rendering of figures, but the accompanying text hints at something far more complex than just simple representation. It's a deliberately raw aesthetic. Curator: Indeed. Kakhidze often blends seemingly naive figuration with sharp social commentary. Notice the speech bubbles with phrases in Ukrainian and Russian—they carry a weighty presence within this seemingly simple drawing. The stark contrast between the innocence of the drawn figures and the text makes the social critiques more acute. The choice of language itself can signal cultural tensions, depending on who’s speaking. Editor: Absolutely. It makes me think about the materials, too. It is just ink and pen, readily available, portable. There's a kind of directness that bypasses the preciousness of oil paint or sculpture, a very immediate mode of getting a message across that seems essential here. This feels closer to diary-keeping or protest art. It seems disposable in its materiality, but what is revealed to us is not. Curator: Precisely. It evokes memory, almost like a fragmented dream. Consider the recurring symbols within her broader oeuvre - the strawberry for example - and how these anchor individual pieces within a larger narrative, a persistent visual language that she is using in order to highlight displacement and environmental issues in Ukrainian territories. Editor: So, it's not disposable at all, more of a continual layering, like palimpsest, with these recurring figures, symbols. Makes you question ideas about folk art, even protest. Is it “naive,” really? Or brutally to-the-point in its construction and materiality? The limited palette enforces this as well. Curator: Yes, I'm with you. Its deliberate visual shorthand demands that we delve beneath surface appearances, making it contemporary, immediate. The power resides in the simplicity of the means employed. Editor: Thinking about process and immediacy lets you see it as a snapshot of the artist’s concerns about displacement, waste, consumerism and more. The way materials and themes intertwine here reveals so much.