As an artist, I find myself constantly exploring traditional crafts and techniques, drawing on my upbringing in post-Soviet Georgia. Growing up in a poor family, I was unable to visit museums or galleries and instead was exposed to the propagandistic public art, massive mosaics, hammered copper reliefs on the streets of my hometown and decorative tapestries that were ubiquitous in Soviet and post-Soviet households.

Inspired by the beauty of colourful mosaics and intimidated by the hammered copper reliefs that adorned buildings and homes, I was struck by the simplicity of Georgian painters like Nikala and frescos of ancient churches. Today, this rich history informs my work as I seek to break free from the narratives and rules imposed by the Soviet era.

Working with natural stones and tapestries allows me to embrace imperfections and the unpredictability of the materials. The tapestries and Mosaics are only continuous series I make. I consider them as one part of my practice, another part is more performative, digital world with videos, collages and performances that lead to them.

And in mosaics I often use them as a glorification method for victories over things. It often depicts something very beautiful, sentimental, spiritual. It is a sneak peak into my soul that is hiding behind the warrior, destructive, unstoppable persona that  I build around it and which is symbolically linked to the tapestries I make.

My whole tapestries series is a commentary , a joke, a highlight of the anthropological elements and the ruling behind-the-scenes dynamics of the current world in a nutshell. Of things that have shaped\failed to shape me/us. highlight of the absurdity, of the resistance, of what we as a community have achieved or what we have overcome.

by ripping, destroying and then building up again the machine made, Soviet Period,  tranquil, conventionally beautiful tapestries into the image that is the representation of the best world for me, i meditate, i heal from the sentence that i embroider by hand on the image offered by the culture that has shaped me. I decorate it, adorn it, burn and tore it the same way as this aesthetics, culture, and mentality has treated me.

My love/hate relationship with tapestries started in my early childhood, when we had a machine made Virgin Mary tapestry at home, I hated it, it was so kitschy, so “not contemporary looking”, I wanted to remove it, hide it when people were visiting… but at one point, after growing up, I suddenly had this unstoppable desire to create my own. And so it started, after I found one on the bazaar. I embroidered on it. And then deconstructed it. Tapestry series is the only series I do. It never seems to end, never gets me bored, always new ways to destroy it, new ways to build. And I never not have something to say, the last word is always mine.

During soviet period, these factory produced tapestries, were a common house decor/art piece for many household. To me it represents the mindset, rules and aesthetics that is forced upon us. 

Phrases are always connected to a political events or unrests or mindsets that disturb me enough to have these phrases stuck in my head.

By embroidering them by hand, then destroying the fabric, I believe I take over the control over the sentences and aesthetic, therefore - winning over it. And this victory I celebrate by decorating it with precious stones, glitters, pompoms etc.

My interest in craft techniques has taken me to Felt - traditional method in Georgian mountains. - which for many decades is only used to produce kitschy visuals and items. My curiosity made me challenge myself to create a painting like artwork but entirely in wool- felt. I am still so impressed by the felting technique = it indeed, is like painting, but with solid material, way more physical, which I so love in my art. 

Almost same goes for the knitted carpet - which is again, traditional technique in east georgia- where I went opposite to the traditional aesthetic this method is used to create there. Normally they make absolutely maximalist carpets, but in my case, I decided to go fully abstract and referenced my own painting (attached to the email) for it. I like when my art continues each other - I work in almost every media one can imagine, but somehow, I do like that each of the artwork, when put together, compliments- expands -continues each other. 

In General - I am very interested into exploring different kinds of materials, traditional techniques of craft and unconventional methods - thematically the most fun for me is to deconstruct, to destroy the conventional accepted norms and aesthetics and build something so strong, little scary, bittersweet, but so real, so true - world with the scent of post-apocalyptic streets, as something that survived it all, something tougher.