Artist Statement

My work asks a single question across forms and materials: what remains when a place no longer belongs to you? I am a Georgian artist from Abkhazia, from a family displaced by the 1993 Russian occupation of Georgia. I was raised in an internally displaced persons community. That experience—of home as temporary, of space as something that can be lost—runs through everything I make.

My work delves into themes of identity, memory, and societal structures, reflecting on the complexities faced by marginalized communities. I examine the disappearance of queer and communal spaces under conditions of political oppression, post-Soviet transition, and gentrification. Through my artworks, I also address environmental challenges: ecological degradation caused by anthropogenic impact and depopulation.

Working across collage, installation, painting, and text, I incorporate archival imagery, Nuskhuri script, and found materials from abandoned sites. My installations often employ tape transfer and lightbox techniques, rendering images faded to evoke the fragility of memory. I am interested in how meaning gets reassigned and how shelter gets rebuilt.

This is exemplified in Valley of the Loss (Fabrika Tbilisi, 2024), where I addressed collective grief within Georgian LGBTQ+ communities. The project reflected on the emotional toll of suppression, the pain of having to conceal one’s true self, and the way personal relationships become the only safe space for authentic expression. For many, loss is not just personal but political—a collective narrative shaped by the ongoing struggle for visibility and acceptance.