Untitled 2022

Curator: Well, here we are looking at Alevtyna Kakhidze's "Untitled" piece, made in 2022 with ink and pen on paper. My initial reaction is just...raw. It feels like a visual scream, doesn't it? The heavy lines, the stark contrast... Editor: Indeed, raw is a great word for it. There's a map-like structure, though quite distorted, showing a cluster of countries. Ukraine is clearly marked, with chaotic scenes drawn over it. Then there’s what looks like a monster looming above… Curator: Oh, absolutely a monster! I see it as this grotesque, almost folkloric creature representing, perhaps, the oppressive force bearing down on Ukraine. It reminds me of a Baba Yaga figure, something deeply embedded in Slavic collective memory turned violent. Editor: Yes, and the lines forming the creature are made of repeating 'Z's—a clear, contemporary, political symbol, but I do see that hint of folklore horror, that deep ancestral dread being reactivated. Curator: Exactly. See how Ukraine is almost hemorrhaging red? The intense red splatter stands in contrast to the mostly black ink linework. It makes the eye immediately drawn to the lower left, giving the map a clear focal point of, sadly, devastation. Editor: Right. And look how people are depicted. Around Ukraine they're huddled, many featureless. Around Russia though, and other labeled regions, they appear as diminutive details and more simplistic figures, almost unaffected...isolated? I can even see banners drawn around Germany. Curator: That's powerful. It becomes this really painful cartography of suffering and indifference, but also points out possible reactions from different factions. There’s a stark contrast of the thick linework, which adds so much pressure and horror on what is actually happening in the areas near the source of the "bleeding." Editor: A brilliant summation. What feels contemporary is the artist almost drawing directly on lived experience to tap into timeless fears about power and nationhood, then using the most immediately visible symbols. So heavy... Curator: It is, yes, but perhaps that visual immediacy is needed to cut through all the noise surrounding this tragedy. So powerful how drawing directly can translate urgency and also deeper, primordial anxieties so effectively.