A few months ago, Elene Rakviashvili was selected to participate in the art residency hosted by Ria Keburia Foundation.
It’s located in Kachreti, a picturesque space in the region of Kakheti, a wine-making cradle of Georgia.

Going away from the noise of the summer city helped Elene focus more on her creativity and turn towards her talents.
As a multidisciplinary artist, she came up with the idea to expand on the previously created moving image art dedicated to the changing surfaces under the same item (concept), in this case, silkworm cocoons, placed in the form of a heartbeat diagram.

During the residency, Elene used various materials to build on the idea.

It would seem that the combination of such polar opposites, like spent cartridge cases and silkworm cocoons, is quite paradoxical. Rough war force and material taken off for another stage of life.
Yet, they both produce two sides of the same path: struggle for survival, liberation, emancipation, and finally, finding one’s identity.

Silk Moth leaning on the surface with the said items might be thinking about the harsh way she handled to get to where she is. It’s now calm and rested, confident and joyous. The road was hard but didn’t expropriate the chance for her on becoming strong and vulnerable at the same time.

Another part of this exploratory project by Elene is the wooden installation assembled without nails, bearing the name “Metamorphose”. It relates again to the presentation of the same concept but in a different body. The artist is experimenting with the natural and human-made materials to deliver her message and influence the visitors thoughts.

No matter how thorny it is, we need to get through this road of change and metamorphosis in order to gain the desired, to become the best versions of ourselves. Our true selves.

So that, eventually, we could earn our wings and get to the garden full of sweet flowers:

P.S. Available for purchase and commision.

Overview by Alina Rozanova