Anna-Liisa Sääsk and Irakli Toklikishvili "Let the Water Taketh Away"

GÜ Gallery 2.–19.07.2025

Mon–Fri 12–18

Opening July 1st at 18.00.

Let the Water Taketh Away has arisen within the framework of today’s tense geopolitical situation, focusing on the artists’ home — Georgia.

Through this exhibition, the duo conveys the thoughts that accompany them daily: How to act in difficult times, worried about the future of their homeland and the next generation? Where to escape to and where to find refuge and the strength to push forward when it seems that the state of the whole world is only getting worse? Where to find the last remnants of human goodness and the hope that darkness will not really take over?

Let the Water Taketh Away is a Georgian saying that expresses hope for improvement through the forces of nature—much like in Estonian, where people turn to the wind or rain with a prayer to wash away pain. Nature, as a refuge and giver of hope, is something that connects both artists as well as Estonia and Georgia more broadly.

Anna-Liisa Sääsk (b. 2000) is an Estonian artist who graduated from the Pallas University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Media design (2024). In addition to graphic art and printmaking, her work is known to the Estonian audience through graphic design projects as well as street art and painting. Her most important exhibitions so far are the solo exhibition KERA at the Plantarium Gallery in Tartu (2023) and Wiiralt and Two Estonian Maidens at Rüki Gallery in Viljandi. In addition, Anna-Liisa is a member of the performance group TEMA, with which she has performed at various festivals and exhibitions, including the Made in Estonia Marathon 2024. Her connection with Georgia began with an Erasmus internship at the Graphic Contemporary Center studio in Tbilisi. In the fall of 2024, the artist spent two months in Finland in a street art residency. In 2016, she received the Ilon Wikland Young Artist Award. Her works are in collections in Estonia, Finland, Spain, Colombia and Georgia.

Irakli Toklikishvili (b.1989) is a Georgian artist and printmaker currently working as an assistant professor of graphic art at the Ilia State University. He completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Tbilisi Academy of Arts in the Faculty of Fine Art, specialising in printmaking (2011/2013). His connection to Estonia began about ten years ago when he came to Lüllemäe as a teacher through a volunteer program, sharing his skills also at the local community centre. Since then, his ties to Estonia have remained strong. Among his works are the solo exhibition Meanwhile at Corridor Gallery in Tbilisi, a printmakers’ group exhibition Ink Fusion at the Museum of Fine Arts in Tbilisi, a solo exhibition Connections in Valga Museum (2018) and other solo and group exhibitions home and abroad.

His works are in private and public collections in Japan, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, USA, Bulgaria, Italy, Ukraine, Georgia and Estonia.

Curator: Kerly Ritval

Supported by: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Ilia State University, Punch Club

Thank you to: Alisa Kazeeva, Ilana Abigail Slutsky, Association of Estonian Printmakers

Contact: Anna-Liisa Sääsk, annaliisasaask@hotmail.com, +372 5303 6528.