Koka Vashakidze -Modern Madonnas_03

Fragments #3:

Modern Madonnas

Installation and Text by Koka Vashakidze

Modern Madonnas scattered across the streets carry their own commercial value as well, much like the works of art they knowingly or unknowingly quote. In both cases, price is assigned by the viewer. Yet while in the first case one pays for the encounter with the image, it remains unclear what is being paid for when money is given to a woman holding a child. Human compassion? What triggers this response? The child, the mother, or the forms they reproduce? Pregnant Madonna, Nursing Madonna, Holy Family, Three-handed Virgin, Pietà… Does concern for their lives, health, or legal status have any place in this compassion?

As a part of lecture and public meeting dedicated to Tbilisi 9 April, 1989 events in Witold Pilecki Institute Berlin, non-governmental organization GZA presented 9 April 1989 Tbilisi Massacre Photo Archive in the hall of the institute. It was the first physical presentation of the work after it’s relaunch

Fragments #2:

9 April / 1989 Tbilisi Massacre Photo Archive

Highlighting Photographers, Artists and Public Figures such as: Dada Dadiani / Edvard Rasoev / Elefter Lapachi / Givi Kikvadze / Gogi Tsgareli / Guram Tsibakhashvili / Ioseb Davitashvili / K. Vacheishvili / M. Datikashvili / M. Utiashvili / Sergo Edisherashvili / Shah Aivazov / Vano Shlamov / Vasil Gabunia / Vladimer Valishvili / Yuri Mechitov

On April 9, 2026 Web Archival Installation by Koka Vashakidze has been relaunched after a long pause. Concept Reads:

On April 9, 1989, Soviet forces violently dispersed peaceful demonstrators in Tbilisi who were demanding independence. Twenty-one innocent lives were lost, and hundreds were injured or poisoned by gas. The tragedy became a defining moment in Georgia’s and Worlds modern history, helping to accelerate the collapse of the Soviet Union and leading to the restoration of the country’s independence.
This archive is dedicated to preserving the visual memory of 9 April Tbilisi Massacre

The inaugural physical exhibition of Daughters of Maro: Chronicles of Georgian Women’s Political Resistance 2024–2025 took place at Gallery Bukia Vakhania in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 4–15 February 2026.

Installation: Koka Vashakidze

Photo documentation: Lisa Osepaishvili-Nemtsova, Sandro Sulaberidze, Koka Vashakidze

An open-access e-version of Daughters of Maro: Chronicles of Georgian Women’s Political Resistance 2024–2025 by Koka Vashakidze was published in Georgian and English and is currently available for download on the platform.

image on the cover: Tinatin Tskhadadze

Woman’s Face at Protest

A film by David Gurgenidze and Mirian Shengelaia for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, presenting Daughters of Maro: Chronicles of Georgian Women’s Political Resistance 2024–2025 as part of a one-year reflection on Georgia’s continuing political protests.

Language: Georgian

Fragments #1:

Daughters of Maro: Chronicles of Georgian Women Political Resistance 2024-2025

Web Archival Installation by Koka Vashakidze and initial project of the platform has been launched in January 2026. Brief concept of the work reads:

On November 28, 2025, Georgia’s continuous political protest surpassed the 365-day mark, and yet nothing has been resolved. What can already be said with certainty is that it has entered contemporary world history and that this chapter has a woman’s face. Over the course of a year, this archival installation chronologically organizes materials circulated through media sources and the personal pages of those directly involved, inviting the viewer to examine the essence of the protest and the process through which its female face was formed.