Interrupted and silenced

With her new exhibition, Collapsed Utopias – Works Interrupted, artist Nina Sanadze is hoping to “evoke a state that is both meditative and deeply immersive”.

The exhibition, inspired by Sanadze’s engagement with the archive of Valentin Toporidze, a monumental sculptor from Soviet Georgia, features 22 sculptures, ranging from small to monumental in scale.

According to Sanadze, even the arrangement of the works has been cleverly designed to encourage a journey of discovery.

“The works are installed across the two downstairs galleries in a carefully considered arrangement that functions both as a cohesive, immersive installation and as a series of distinct individual sculptures,” she told The AJN. “Experiencing this exhibition is, I hope, like a journey of discovery — assembling fragments of memory, emotion, and meaning as you move through the space.”

The sculptures have been abandoned mid-creation, silenced by the violent rupture of October 7, 2023, and what followed – Jewish artists being cast out and feeling betrayed by their artistic communities.

Sanadze herself has been doxxed, harassed, and even pushed out of her studio following her public condemnation of the Hamas-led massacre. It’s a big reason why she agreed to become the gallery curator at Goldstone Gallery, which was opened earlier this year to provide a space for Jewish artists and creatives where their voices could be amplified.

Collapsed Utopias – Works Interrupted shows how the Jewish artistic world was forcibly interrupted, as written on the website, “raw wounds left open by history’s violence”, and features works heavily inspired by Toporize.

“Some of the sculptures in this exhibition are remade or reconstructed replicas of his original works, appropriated, quoted, reimagined, and reinserted into new compositions,” Sanadze explained. “I’ve recontextualised these Georgian-Soviet communist monument fragments within a contemporary Australian setting. What do these forms mean now, in today’s history and landscape? What can they teach us? Can they?”

The exhibition has been described on the website as “both document and defiance” providing Sanadze an opportunity to reclaim her voice.

“The experience is intended to feel like an encounter with a ghost of the past — a presence that asks: Why am I here? What am I trying to tell you? It’s a kind of mysterious recognition — as though you’ve seen it before in a dream, a book, a past life, or in the corners of your imagination. The sculptures might feel painfully noble, ancient yet displaced, familiar but elusive,” Sanadze said.

“Once you’ve seen it, once it has touched you, you can’t unsee it. It becomes part of your landscape — shifting the way you see the present, and perhaps even your future.”

Collapsed Utopias – Works Interrupted is at Goldstone Gallery from July 31 – August 28. For more information, visit goldstonegallery.com