By Karine Asatryan
Photos By Gohar Hayrapetyan
TBILISI, Dec 21 (Tbilisi Times) Maro’s mural was the latest addition made in 2023 to the litany of murals that decorate Tbilisi’s infrastructure.
Maro Makashvili is a symbol of resistance to the Soviet occupation. The mural dedicated to her was completed on the day when Georgia received EU candidate status.
Maro Makashvili, the first woman to be awarded the Georgian Order of National Hero, resisted Russian occupation in 1921 and was executed at the age of 19 for her defiance. Almost a century later, Georgians have adopted her rebellious spirit.
“Every Georgian woman wants to be as brave as Maro, who sacrificed herself for her country,” said Nanina Andguladze, the Georgian painter and muralist. “I'm very proud of her and I also want to be like her, to have the possibility to repay the huge favor she’s done for the community.”
Andguladze completed the famous mural of Maro on a nine-story building in Vaketeli, Tbilisi, with Sasha Korban, a famous Ukrainian muralist. Typically, the Georgian mural festival ends at the end of October, however, the warm weather allowed the festival to extend until the end of November. This resulted in Georgia celebrating the country’s European Union (EU) candidate status with the creation of Maro’s mural.
“It was an honor for me as an inexperienced artist to work with Sasha Korban,” said Andguladze about the difficulties of creating a mural. “You have to stand on the wall and work without analyzing what you are doing.”
Nanina Andguladze: The Artistic Tribute to Maro Makashvili, the First Woman of the National Hero of Georgia
Andguladze has been painting since the age of 11. After graduating from the State Academy of Art in Georgia, she worked for a year in Munich, Germany. She said she was counting the days until the return to her homeland. The artist hopes that with hard work Georgia will successfully overcome the path to becoming a full member of the EU.
Andguladze said that in addition to running her art school in Tbilisi where she teaches painting to around 100 children, she’s also improving her mural creation skills to leave another painting on the walls of Tbilisi next year.
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