Anna Jibladze

In My Dreams You Were Never Born, 2020

Installation: soft sculpture and cradle

In the past, in many parts of Caucasus it was customary to send away a new born baby for nursing to another woman. Because of this the woman was gaining more influence on the child than the biological parents. The tradition had political connotations as well. Often a baby was given to a family from another ethnic group where the baby lived and learned the language and customs. Woman’s body was used as a political weapon that could bring different ethnic groups closer and avoid possible conflicts between them.

Anna Jibladze (born in 1995) lives and works in Tbilisi. 2014-2018 she studied at the Visual Art, Architecture and Design School of the Free University of Tbilisi and majored in painting in the class of Thea Gvetadze and Levan Mindiashvili. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, among them Obscura Residency (2019), VA[A]DS group exhibition at Artisterium (2018), “And Connection” – exhibition at the abandoned soviet school building (Tbilisi, 2018), Kavaleridze Revision (Kiev, 2018), Powerpuff Girls at the Artarea Gallery (Tbilisi, 2017). She was part of the residency at the Kavaleridze Revision in Kiev, Ukraine as well as Arteli Racha and Garikula residencies in Georgia.