Tina Chertova, 35, is a handmade craft designer from Tbilisi, Georgia.
Tina Chertova, 35, is a handmade craft designer from Tbilisi, Georgia who has been fighting for women’s rights in her country for more than a decade.
Her main goal is building a better future for new generations and making essential information accessible to any person who is in need.
She paint in murals to address a specific social issue at a moment of heightened public debate. “Many of the murals I exhibited during festivals or special projects, which gave me the freedom to stand out and speak up. My murals amplify the visual impact of protests against homophobia, patriarchy, and gender-based abuse”.
Mural art is one of the most prominent artforms of the 21st century to take a lead in addressing social problems. Posts on social media, gallery exhibitions will not bring your message to all kinds of people who walk the streets, have different life experiences, people of all ages and mentality. But a huge painting on the main street in your community makes it impossible to ignore.
It is rewarding to work in rural areas outside the capital where places are full of stereotypes.
I would like to make essential information accessible to any person who is in need, talk about human rights in a positive way, introduce new social norms to the older generation and to motivate the younger generation to push themselves outside the box of rules and taboos”.
In 2016, I created a project, Dreamingstan, which is a whole kingdom of playful characters who tell stories about life in Georgia. It was very well received. Since then, I have further explored the contemporary cultural and social issues, which were part of Dreamingstan, and eventually created a collection of portraits called ‘Women of Georgia’. I came across some remarkable women who worked in a variety of roles, such as one who was a priest, another who was a journalist, also a military doctor, a policewoman, a DJ, a lawyer among others.
She has created works for various festivals and projects, among them the Urban art festival Fabrikaffiti, Georgia “Made by Characters” JWT Metro, “Who is dating who” (on LGBT rights), “#13 June” memorial of the flood in Georgia, the comic series “Social workers for safe families” as well as the “Dreamer” statue to commemorate the 8 August war.
Chertova is the author of the social project Dreamingstan, which fosters the development of feminism in the country and she has contributed to developing initiatives providing visual information about human rights. She is the owner of the family start-up Chertova, which provides handmade toys for charity events and orphanages.
