Maya Chachava

Since moving to United States from Georgia (former republic of USSR), I have been interested in researching the notion of identity through visual language.

This work came from a new series entitled: “Gardens of Good and Evil”. It incorporates personal and cultural iconography, further exploring what it means to be a female immigrant artist living and working in the 21st century. It started from a feeling rather than an idea and certainly not from ideology.

I was in service of my story that wished to be told. I listened to it and allowed it to take me where I needed to go. I will not attempt to fully decode this work now, due to its complexity and partly because I prefer that it retains its mystery.

I would like to mention though that the female face emerged from an imaginary world where “the self can never be seen with disguise and never be seen without one” (M. Strand)

© Maya Chachava