Art Exhibition Opening Reception: Alevtina Kakhidze, "Drawing the War"

Full event information may be found here. 

The artist Alevtina Kakhidze invites viewers into the intimate, raw space where everyday life and wartime reality collide. Living in Ukraine throughout Russia’s full‑scale invasion, 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.

Exhibition curated by Constance Uzwyshyn and Alex Grabovsky; coordinated by Anastasiia Perverten

About the Artist

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. 

This event is organized by The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and co-sponsored by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.

Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access should contact HURI Events Coordinator, Kat Ambrus, at least two weeks in advance of the session.

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