National Archives of Georgia Hosts Givi Kikvidze's Exhibition - "From the Sakinform archive"

 

Traditions, research, operational and highly professional activities, which had the right to cover the daily life and political life of the country, played a significant role in the development of Georgian photography. Sakinform was an ideal, informative, structured photo machine that could create a rich and complete chronicle and capture the Soviet history of the country with vivid images of reality. Despite the ideological censorship that was inevitable in any field, especially in the field of information and visual expression, the photographers who worked for Sakinform for years created the best examples of realism and documentary photography. Basically, these are portraits from reality and space, which often speaks for themselves and the reality in which the country lived. It is noteworthy that the Sakinform photographers made a significant contribution to the development of photography in the 1980s in Georgia, as the association created really high-quality photo products.

 

Givi Kikvadze is one of the most prominent photographers of this union, who created a very expressive photo example of Social Realism. In this certainly difficult time, he did not lose his sense of reality and created highly artistic professional photographs. Givi Kikvadze was born in 1933, in the 1950s he worked as a projectionist at the Tbilisi cinema and Dzerzhinsky Club. He became a photojournalist for TASS in 1957, worked for Sakininform for a long time, and for some time before his death was the editor-in-chief of Sakininform's photo chronicle. In 1966 he became a member of the Union of Journalists, participated in international exhibitions, and was awarded the Order of Lenin and the title of Labor Veteran. Died in 1996. Extensive thematic differences can be traced in the documentary and genre diversity of Givi Kikvadze's photography; He created portraits, including celebrities, actors, public figures, and representatives of various fields. Of particular note is his role as a sports photojournalist and creator of sports chronicles. In the age of Social Realism, Givi Kikvadze depicted a chronicle of industries, factories, and other Soviet manufacturers, where true and real everyday life appears in colloquial portraits and compositions. The photographer took pictures of Georgian dance and song ensembles, and festivals, which also created a picture of the life of the country.

 

Noteworthy is his work on the tragedy of April 9, where every detail and nuance speaks of the skill of the photographer. During the difficult period of Georgia's struggle for independence, Givi Kikvadze reflected the political and social reality that covers the entire difficult period of Georgian history. For the development of photography and the creation of a political and social chronicle, the 2022 Alexander Roinashvili Prize will be awarded to Givi Kikvadze, whose merits in photography are even more important and valuable today.