From September, the new collection of Georgian artist, curator and sustainable fashion designer Tuta Chkheidze (Tutasay) “WRong Is Not My Name” will be sold in Bleaq, a sustainable fashion concept store in London. The collection was inspired by the poem of the same name by an American feminist author, which for Tutasay is a kind of manifesto of struggle in a system from which the queer body is politically excluded. The face of the collection is the Georgian model and artist Lucretsia, the photographer is Leko Chkhonia, the make-up artist is Kira Light Chan.
Photo: Leko Chkhonia / Make-up: Kira Light Chan
Photo: Leko Chkhonia / Make-up: Kira Light Chan
In hand-painted works that explore the complexities of the queer body, Tutasay’s drawings are combined with texts by Jordan and Maya Angelou. As Tutasay tells Aprili Media, this form is, on the one hand, an attempt to connect individual experiences with women in other cultural or political realities, and on the other hand, it is a way of telling our collective stories, even in fragments.
“For me, clothes are a medium to express anger in this case. A person’s visual appearance is one of the reasons why you can become a target of political hatred directed at our society. And in environments where agency is taken away from women and queers, symbols become important. Therefore, this collection is a kind of symbol, on the one hand, of the oppression that has been the target of the queer community for many years, and on the other hand, it is a symbol of the courage that emerges in the fight against such a system,” shared Tutasay.
Photo: Leko Chkhonia / Make-up: Kira Light Chan
Photo: Leko Chkhonia / Make-up: Kira Light Chan
According to the designer, while preparing the collection, she thought about the homophobic laws passed by Georgian Dream in the first reading, which is why she may not be able to publish the collection in the future.
“If we recall the example of Russia, we really have reason to fear. There, queer people were lumped into extremist groups and turned into a red line in Russia’s struggle with the West. As a result, queer migration has increased, and attacks and murders of queer people have become more frequent. Also, artists’ freedom of expression was restricted. “Not only was the exhibition dedicated to Tchaikovsky banned, but the Russian artist was arrested because of the naive painting and the caption – ‘A woman has hair’ – published on social media,” the artist tells us.
To see other works of Tutasay, you can visit the artist’s website.