‘In the Shadow of Big Trees’ is a metaphor for existing within larger narratives. It is the experience of living in the shadow of global historical processes, of the subtle absorption of the personal by the public and of being preserved within frozen practices - and the possibility of overcoming them.
The project invited artists to engage in social and political themes through local and personal narratives. By setting these stories against metanarratives, the participants highlighted the importance of local context and individual perspective in times of global uncertainty.
Salina Abaza created a work reflecting her experience of the war's aftermath and her complex emotions about being in Abkhazia,  to where she returned from Syria. Her large-scale sculpture, made of wood, chains and feathers, topples the world of political history and transforms it into the poetics of everyday objects.
Arseny Chakmach interpreted ‘In the Shadow of Big Trees’ as a way to question the psychological state of the artist constantly searching for a way out of creative blocks. His video work, filmed in the winter of 2022 in Gagra, is an autobiographical narrative about parting with the past and a dialogue with loved ones and the surrounding environment.
Rita Pandaria reflected on the problem of separation from the older generation and the pressure of traditional and family narratives. An old chest, heavy with memories, became a metaphor for personal acceptance of the ‘circumstances of place and time.’
Sabina Khardzhelia recorded interviews with people who experienced traumatic events and accompanied the audio with a series of photographic portraits of the participants. By bringing these stories into the public space, the artist questioned the boundaries between collective and personal memory.Sabina Kvartchelia created a project dedicated to the nostalgic connection with her childhood as a source of personal creativity, reconstructing the environment of the home where she lived with her parents.
Konstantin Gretsov problematised the ‘museumification’ of the Abkhaz language by enclosing the Abkhaz alphabet in a glass case.
Amra Chichibaya presented a multicolored stained glass piece. Referencing both religious architecture and Soviet-era stained glass, the artist reflects on the realm of the ‘ideal’ or ‘utopian,’ combining two ‘dead narratives’ into a single object.
David Chakaberia and Tamriko Basaria present documentation of a performance filmed in the village of Primorskoe, near the town of Gali. The performance centres around a sculpture in the shape of a human silhouette made from shattered mirrors. Deprived of subjectivity, this figure can only reflect its surroundings. The artists see in this image the collective body of the people of Gali, forced to adapt to the circumstances imposed by the conflict between Abkhazia and Georgia.