The Visual Artist | Liza Mikeladze
On a windy morning in November, Liza Mikeladze walks across the bridge in an old part of Tbilisi. She ignores the cold wind and tries to find something interesting at the flea market.
Liza graciously moves in a black coat from one seller to another, observing everything around with curious eyes. Suddenly, she leans and grabs a big box with old newspapers. Liza happily pays the money for her art project supplies and continues her way.
Liza is a 22 years old student at the art academy. Due to the crisis of the Covid-19, her academy’s studio was closed, and art students, including Liza, were forced to adapt to a new reality. Since lockdown, theoretical lectures moved to Zoom, and “practical ones found a home in the streets,” Liza says with disappointment.
Her usual morning starts early with an outdoor class. Liza takes her drawing papers, pencils, and goes to the central square to meet her classmates and the teacher. They sit around model in a circle with two meters distance from each other. The teacher gives instructions, and Liza starts drawing. After one and a half hours, the lesson comes to an end, and she goes home.
During online lectures, Liza likes to work on her installation for the final project. “Doing stuff I love helps me to stay calm and at the same time be focused on online lectures,” says Liza. “If I am not doing art, I am thinking about it. Because of that, I am not a good listener.” However, from time to time, my ability of multitask is getting better.
Liza admits that being an art student during the Covid-19 is much harder than before. Even though, her learning process has lost quality, her individual progress is getting on a faster road. “I miss my studio. I even miss wearing clothes stained with paint,” says Liza with a big smile on her face.
“I am an artist who romanticizes everything,” she says, “so I look at lockdown as the best opportunity to find myself.” She now dedicates most of her time to her portfolio. She is happy to add final touches to her installation- “When the Past Meets the Future.”
Liza goes to an elevator-sized open-sided box made by her with plywood, screen, and speakers. Her art project is almost ready. As the final touch, Liza puts her old newspapers on the box walls like wallpaper. Liza explained that while the screen will show videos of the “Rose Revolution” from seventeen years ago, speakers will play news about protests from our era. Newspapers will cover both protests. “I am working hard and hoping that my work will see the light soon,” says Liza and continues putting newspapers on the box.
Mariami Gugushvili is a Journalism and Mass Communication student in AUBG. For this story, she interviewed a girl who caught her attention at the flea market., and learned little details about her life.
