10 Questions with Nestan Mikeladze

Nestan Mikeladze (b. 1986) is a Georgian-born artist based in Tbilisi. She had her first solo exhibition, “Transformation,” in 2014 at Tumanishvili Theater as part of an emerging artists program. Her second group exhibition, “The Other Self,” was held at Fabrika Space Tbilisi in 2017.

She was a finalist in the 2022 Figurative International Juried Art Competition, held by Art Show International Gallery. She also received an Honorable Mention Award in the art competition “Living Cities,” held by UPWARD Gallery in 2022. In addition, she has received mentorship from Dr. Christianna Bonin, a critic at Artforum.

Her work has been featured in several art magazines, such as the Bank of Georgia’s digital magazine, Top Magazine, and on Contemporary Art Collectors' platforms.

nestan.ge | @nestan.mikeladze

ARTIST STATEMENT

I recently became a feminist, though I hesitated to call myself such. In Georgia, where I grew up and where my practice is based, a stigma exists around the term "feminism". The standard view of a "feminist" is that of a woman who wants to dominate men and who aggressively rejects the feminine parts of herself. But for me, feminism is about equality, autonomy, and respect among all genders.

My decision to pursue art-making was a decision to forge this path to equality. In my work, you will see how a woman emerges from being blended and uncertain to bold and defined. You will see the female figure as she is undergoing a process of becoming self-aware, empowered, and ultimately liberated. To make these images was, for me, a risky statement. It is a way of saying, 'I can do it,' because, in my world, women are seldom expected or allowed to risk so much. I want to share with others the strength that I have felt through art-making. I use thin oil paints not only to convey transparency but also because it is an unpredictable medium. It is one that I cannot easily control, and thus I am surprised by. It has its own way.

I was born and raised in a patriarchal society. I started to understand that quite late in my life. In childhood, I remember experiencing a feeling of unfairness while observing the lives of women around me, especially that of my mom. She ran the household: taking care of the kids, doing all the chores, and running errands. I never saw her interests being considered, even articulated. I never saw her doing anything for herself, nor did I see anyone helping her take care of herself. I was protesting inside and knew that I wanted something different for myself. I felt that something was imbalanced.

A real awareness of the situation started when I found myself in the role of the women from my childhood. It was the role of wife, mother, and employee. I had a career in finance for 14 years, holding senior roles and, ultimately, in top management. A woman who aspires to a career in finance, a male-dominated industry, has to prove herself multiple times over. She is expected to excel at everything and might not be considered one of their own.

Despite rarely expressing her own desires, my mom created opportunities for me to form and articulate my own opinions and wishes. I remember my mom never internalizing the norms established within society as her own and appropriate to raising me. She wasn't content to act as other mothers did. This provided an example to me of what it meant to treat others on their own terms. It gave me a sense of fairness.

The first battle I had to overcome was separating what I considered to be right for me from what others said was right for me. This first battle was thus an internal one with myself. As I figured out what was right for me, the second battle started, this time with pseudo-equality. It was a situation in which I was required to play all roles rather than sharing responsibilities: being educated and having a career, while also being responsible for my household. The road was difficult, sometimes even pushing me to give up. But just like a cut branch can be planted, grow roots, and become strong, so will you, and so will we. We must act. As Gloria Steinem once said, "the truth will set you free, but first, it will piss you off."

INTERVIEW

First of all, why did you become an artist, and what is your personal aim as an artist?

If you become an artist at some point in your life, you have always been an artist; it’s just that you have not been discovered by yourself in the first place and by someone else afterward. I always felt inside that I had something that should be manifested in the way it was not at that very moment. And at some point, I caught the momentum, and I rode that wave of energy. 
As an artist, my aim is to understand myself, thus understand others and be the means of expressing thoughts, feelings, and our surroundings. That’s what other artists have been for me, and I have learned through them, grown, and understood. 

You come from a different background, having worked in finance for many years. How did you get involved with art? And when did you first decide to become an artist?

I always had art in me, and finally, like a growing seed, it dug its way out into the world. 

How did your practice evolve over the years? And how would you define yourself as an artist today?

My practice has changed over the years with me. As I have gradually evolved and gained more experience, confidence, and awareness — really, just a better understanding of our surroundings, so does my practice. The subject matter, colors, technique: everything changes, and it brings works alive; it makes them storytellers. 
I believe that we are the best versions of ourselves at any moment in our lives, and progress is ceaseless. So at the moment, I am better than yesterday, more confident, more aware, and more me.

Your work revolves around the concept of feminism and your experience as a woman in a male-dominated society. What inspired you to pursue these themes?

I was inspired by my personal experience. If I looked at my life as a story, I would see a woman as the protagonist: someone who grew up and had a career and a family in a male-dominated society. I had to uncover myself from beneath many layers of untruth in order to find my real self. I saw that my life was and would continue to be deformed by social pressures and stereotypes around things and especially women. So for me, the creative process and being an artist has really become a pathway to freedom.

What messages would you like to communicate to the viewers with your work?

My works are acts of self-liberation. I have always wondered what life could be in a world where you, as a person, are not put into a box. The box may be small or big, but it is still a box, after all. So my message to the viewer is everything is within you. You are already the source of everything.

What is your creative process like? And how did you evolve this way of working?

The cornerstone of my creative process is observation. It can be everything from observing a mundane routine to seemingly immeasurable expanses like the sky. When you start focusing on things in that way, it becomes your habit, and even a routine commute or just observing the sky can inspire you. The interesting thing is that every time you do that, you gain a new perspective on people, life, for me, practically on anything. It’s inexhaustible. 

What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

My work should fulfill what I have inside. That is the most important thing for me. I want to be true to myself and to others. And when this truth is conveyed on the canvas, it becomes vibrant; it carries the power to resonate with an audience, which ultimately manifests my main goal as an artist: bringing something from inside to outside.

Is there anything else you would like to experiment with in your art? 

I am very interested in sculpting. It always amazed me how you can create something meaningful, alive, and vibrant out of a previously still and breathless material. 

What do you think about the art community and market? 

Today’s art market is affected by consumerism, which can be the main culprit in killing its values. Capitalist principles drive artists away from peering inside themselves and push their inspiration far from their background; the latter is the very source of creating something valuable and truly sublime. 
Artistic minds do doomscroll. Feed their creativity with products of social media. What do they create together? Mass production of conveyor inspiration from social networks, Instagram icons, and TikTok moguls. Isn’t the global art market a huge supermarket of spiritual pleasure fast food? I wonder if things will change tremendously soon.

And lastly, what are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

Every time I embark on doing something new, it brings a sense of fear, which is the signal that I am heading in the right direction. Right now, I am going through a kind of metamorphosis. Something new is being born within me, and I am figuring it out. 
Along with that, I am preparing for my new exhibition, which is planned to take place early next year in Dubai.