Before painting My Daughter is a Prison Ballerina in 1992, Karlo Kacharava developed the subjects of the painting with pen sketches whilst serving in the military in Mirni, Siberia; home of a Soviet high security prison. These prisons had designated storytellers, razkazchik, a role Kacharava assumed outside of the prison walls to the fellow soldiers. Below the drawing of the nude ballerina wearing a tutu, Kacharava wrote ‘old man in prison is telling stories and drawing pictures of his stepdaughter, who’s a ballerina. He is subjected to mocking and pity from recidivists and criminals whose dreams were fuelled by the drawings of the ballerina in erotic poses.’ The drawing is framed by three framed exclamations of ‘My Daughter is a Prison Ballerina!’

The sketch gives insight into Kacharava’s simultaneous way of thinking, and method of combining international with local stories. The name of the American art collector Daniel Wolf headers the page in large letters, a figure known for his unique photography collection, love of nature and his close bond with his father. Beneath his name in Russian, Kacharava wrote ‘the story with a happy ending,’ perhaps a hopeful figure for Kacharava following the early death of his father. Joyce Baronio, a friend of Wolf, is also referenced in large letters with the address 42nd Street Studio. The list on the right translates as ‘dedicated to the creators of new Societ art: Ilya Kabakov, Eric Bulatov, Francisco Infante, Levan Chogoshvili, Kostya Zvezdochetov, Mamuka Tsetskhladze, Yuri Albert.’ On the left is the note ‘the publisher is an independent Christian Democratic publishing house...for additional information please vote for them,’ imbuing the sketch with ironic humour.

The painting is made up of painted and collaged elements on canvas. The found objects pasted onto the grey backdrop of three gymnasium tickets and cigarette wrappers (Gitanes Legeres, a French brand popular in Germany where Kacharava visited) suggest the material vestiges of a father and daughter. This relationship correlates to how Kacharava had to assume a paternal role to his younger sister, Lika. A domestic setting is indicated by the ‘New Christmas Tree’ delicately captioned in Georgian script. Kacharava used paint to narrate scenes like a cinematographer would annotate a storyboard. The filmic lead is the central woman having her chin raised, a gesture common in ballet classes to improve poise. The adjacent dark window on the left evokes a stage curtain, reinforced by the central figure taking a deep bow.

Ballet was integral to socialist popular culture and was made extremely accessible to the masses; tickets were either free or heavily discounted. The Soviet Union used the dance as an instrument to galvanise and inspire workers. As Georgia declared its independence in 1991, a year prior to My Daughter is a Prison Ballerina, the references to ballet and imprisonment are loaded with metaphor. Two purple rabbits and a horse occupy the top right area, imposed onto a train station, captioned ‘Night - a station with rabbits’ underneath drawing of the sun and moon in different stages. The fairy tale scene beside the collage exemplifies Kacharava’s style of creating an intricate network of citations that flit between fact and fiction. [PDG for Tate]