archive user guide
ge

Contemporary Art Archive - Tbilisi

Archive of Academic Writings

2021 Edition of the Project is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia

Tears of Sadness and Joy

Painting

Mariam Akubardia

Mixed media, canvas
2019
179x94 cm.

In 1988, my then 10 month-old sister - Keti, used to laugh in her sleep as my dad sat beside her and painted characters that he thought she was dreaming of. Nobody back then thought that we would have to leave our home in Abkhazia…

We took my dad’s drawings of Keti’s dreams with us as the war unfolded.

These paintings are the artefacts of the happy years before the war.

I decided to use my dad’s drawings that are now associated with two contradicting emotions - happiness and sadness