The exhibition "Drawing the War" invites viewers into the intimate, raw space where everyday life and wartime reality collide. Living in Ukraine throughout Russia’s full‑scale invasion, the artist, Alvetina Kakhidze, works from the immediacy of her experience; her visceral reactions, bodily tensions, and emotional fluctuations become the material of her art. Her drawings, writings, and performance‑based reflections do not illustrate the war from afar; they transmit it from within. Each piece carries the pulse of a person navigating constant uncertainty, trying to preserve clarity, dignity, and humor in conditions that make such efforts difficult, at times impossible.
Every artwork in this exhibition is paired with a news article sourced across American media, to anchor Kakhidze’s personal narrative within the broader factual record of the war. These links function not as explanatory labels but as parallel threads, expanding each work’s emotional charge with real‑world contexts. The variety of sources mirrors the fragmented and often overwhelming information environment Ukrainians must navigate daily.
Through this pairing, the exhibition asks you to inhabit, however briefly, the perspective of someone living through war: absorbing headlines as they break, feeling their impact on the body, and moving through the world with the weight of each new notification. The artworks and articles together create a multi‑layered experience, one that conveys not only what is happening but what it feels like to live inside a continuing, unpredictable conflict.
Artist bio:
Alevtina Kakhidze (born 1973 in Zhdanivka, Eastern Ukraine, now under Russian occupation) is a multidisciplinary artist working across performance, drawing, curation, design, and horticulture. She studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Kyiv and the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. Her practice critically examines social, political, and institutional systems, revealing how they shape everyday life and sustain structural violence.
Curators: Constance Uzwyshyn and Alex Grabovsky
Exhibition Coordinator: Anastasiia Perverten
Sponsorship
Exhibition is co-sponsored by Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
Accessibility
The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact us at 617-495-4037 or daviscenter@fas.harvard.edu in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance if possible. Please note that the Davis Center will make every effort to secure services but that services are subject to availability.
