For the first time, Ukraine will be represented at the biennale in Guatemala with a project by artist Alievtina Kahidze that addresses the Russian-Ukrainian war. This was announced by the Ministry of Culture.

From November 6, 2025, to February 15, 2026, the 24th Bienal de Arte Paiz will take place in Guatemala City and Antigua. This is one of the key art events in Latin America, established in 1978. This year's theme is "The World Tree," featuring artists from Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania. The curator for this year's biennale is Eugenio Viola.

Alievtina Kahidze will present her project titled "I Am Still Drawing This War." This includes drawings, diaries, and a 360° film documenting her personal experiences of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The narrative begins in 2014 with conversations with her mother, who remained in their hometown, and continues with the first days of the large-scale invasion and the liberation of the Kyiv region from Russian occupiers, culminating in events of 2025, when the war is still ongoing.

The artist states: "In my works, I discuss how my mother experienced the war in the basement, as did I when the Russians were just a few kilometers from my home, and I also address Russian imperialism."

Among other participants in the biennale who also tackle themes of war and colonization in their work:

• Taiwanese artist Zhang Xu Zhang, a nominee for the Future Generation Art Prize 2024, who exhibited at PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv earlier this year;
• Algerian-French artist Kader Attia, who created installations at the "Isolation" Foundation site in Donetsk in 2012.

Alievtina Kahidze's participation in the Bienal de Arte Paiz is made possible with the support of the Ukrainian Institute.

About Alievtina Kahidze

Alievtina Kahidze is a Ukrainian artist, performer, curator, designer, and gardener, born in 1973 in Zhdanivka, Ukraine. She graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Kyiv and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht (Netherlands). Her work deeply explores various systems — from social to natural — through the lens of art and performance.

Since 2018, Kahidze has been a United Nations ambassador for tolerance in Ukraine. She has also received the Malevich Prize for significant contributions to artistic exhibition projects, including prominent international platforms such as the International Biennale of Contemporary Art "Manifesta 10" during the annexation of Crimea, the 7th Berlin Biennale with a political focus, and the Moroccan Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale with the project Working for Change.

Since 2009, the artist has been living in the village of Muzychy, Ukraine, where she continues to work on projects that merge her artistic vision with pressing social and political issues.