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France 24
France 24
Entertainment

Artists for Ukraine: Georgian-born pianist Khatia Buniatishvili plays for peace

ENCORE! © FRANCE 24

Khatia Buniatishvili was born in Georgia and has become one of the best-known pianists in the world. This week she led a concert in Paris with other artists in solidarity with Ukraine. She speaks to Eve Jackson about the conflict, why she stopped performing in Russia in 2008 after the country launched a ground assault against Georgia, and shares her thoughts about the world's boycott of Russian artists.

We also discuss the reaction of Demna Gvasalia, the Georgian-born director of French fashion house Balenciaga, to the war in Ukraine. When he was 12 years old, he was one of 250,000 Georgians forced from their homes by Abkhazian separatists during Georgia's civil war, crossing the Caucasus mountains with his family. Gvasalia says the war has "triggered the pain of a past trauma" he has carried in him since 1993, when "the same thing happened" in his home country.

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