Sopho Kharazi

I’m a Georgian visual artist based in Milan. My practice is rooted in people, encounters and the different stages of my life. I work primarily with gouache, markers, ink and pencil, often combining materials on cardboard and paper.

My paintings grow out of the people and worlds I encounter. I am drawn to unusual characters, intimate moments, bodies, movement and the small gestures through which people reveal something about themselves. I also draw heavily from my own experiences outside the studio: I perform drag and pole dance, and have spent much of my life around electronic music, nightlife and underground cultural spaces in Georgia. These experiences have shaped the way I think about performance, identity, femininity, vulnerability and freedom.

I am a co-founder of Tbilisi Collective, an independent online magazine documenting and connecting creative voices worldwide. Meeting artists, performers, musicians and other people through this community continually feeds into my visual practice. Conversations, friendships and encounters often stay with me long after they happen, eventually resurfacing as figures, colours, gestures or imagined scenes in my paintings.

My ongoing series "Invisible Monsters" explores some of these influ...

Self-Taught