{"id":2327,"date":"2017-01-20T09:34:26","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T09:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=2327"},"modified":"2017-02-16T09:47:48","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T09:47:48","slug":"time-stands-still-for-the-award-winning-photographer-daro-sulakauri-with-her-project-double-alien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=2327","title":{"rendered":"Time stands still for the award-winning photographer Daro Sulakauri with her project, Double Alien"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ROSIE FLANAGAN
\nfreundevonfreunden.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Invisible conflict explored against the vast plains of southern Georgia, Samtskhe Javakheti<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I go back to Samtskhe \u00adJavakheti I feel like time doesn\u2019t exist, like it has been frozen,\u201d explains Georgian photographer Daro Sulakauri<\/a>. Her work captures the impact of this stillness on both the land and the relations between the Georgians and Armenians who live there.<\/p>\n

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Georgia. Samtskhe-Javakheti region, Paravani lake.
Near the entrance into the Javakheti region. (Photo by Daro Sulakauri)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Daro, the region of Samtskhe Javakheti bears mythical connotations\u2014an inaccessible place of fairy-tale like beauty. Small townships are scattered across a vast desert, graveyards are silhouetted against mountain ranges and shrines find their home amongst rock formations. The region has a history defined by disconnect: struggles with unemployment, ownership, education and lack of industry due to remoteness. Such a past bleeds into contemporary understanding of this geographically isolated part of the Caucasus region, known equally for the starkness of its landscape and the barely hidden tensions that exist in its ethnically diverse community.<\/p>\n

Daro spent several months in the province during 2012 and while photographing the people she met, developed a growing understanding of the intensity of the Armenian-Georgian situation. Bordering Armenia and Turkey, Samtskhe Javakheti is a region that has been prominent in cultural commentary throughout time: its history marked by conflict, migration and tensions between minority groups displaced by everyone from the Ottomans to the Soviets. The ethnic and religious demography of the area is complex and historically fraught, with over half the inhabitants of the area belonging to minority groups. Here, Georgians comprise of around 3% of the population, and Armenians\u2014around 60%. This is a part of the country where the Georgian language is rarely spoken, and where lines between ethnic groups\u2014whilst invisible\u2014remain entrenched.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never would have imagined I could feel like a stranger in my own homeland. When I first arrived it felt strange that I had to speak Russian in the stores to buy something\u2014because I didn\u2019t know Armenian. Rarely did I see a Georgian. It felt like something that was my own had been taken away\u201d Daro explains.<\/p>\n

In Samtskhe Javakheti, Georgians and Armenians live in different towns, study in different schools, and speak different languages. For Daro, this division was something she documented as a Georgian to find answers: \u201cI wanted to photograph the hidden conflict between the two ethnic groups, but how do you photograph something that\u2019s hidden and not visible to the eye? There were no physical situations that I could depict. It was like photographing the invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resulting series show a place that seems to have been forgotten by time. There is a stillness to the landscape of Samtskhe Javakheti, a coldness punctuated briefly by ruddy cheeks and red tapestries. \u2018Double Alien\u2019 layers difference against desert and mountain, binding them to the land and uniting them in silence.<\/p>\n

Thank you Daro, for sharing your experience of your amazing country with us. If you\u2019d like to see more work from the award-winning photographer, see our feature on Georgian photographers here<\/a>, or visit her website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more inspired views through the lens of our contributing photographers from around the world, see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Village Okami: Georgian settlement beneath a rainbow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Orja Village: Khanum (18) dances for her friends and neighbors at her house. Khanum was kidnapped twice for forceful marriage. Her father managed to get her back. She now sits at home and is unable to attend University, her father fears that she will be kidnapped again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Baraleti Village: Armenian School. Recess. The village ethnic majority are Armenians. Baraleti has two schools, Armenian and Georgian. \u201cGeorgian children were forgetting their mother tongue in an Armenian school, so the Georgian school was rebuilt for Georgians” says a Georgian teacher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Village Okami: Armenians lighting church candles on a what they believe is a holy rock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n
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Baraleti Village: Karen (9), Armenian. Karen has won several medals in school championships for running. The region struggles with lack of employment and entertainment. Karen exercises everyday to become their number one runner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Poka Village: Georgians celebrating orthodox St. Nino\u2019s Day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ROSIE FLANAGAN freundevonfreunden.com Invisible conflict explored against the vast plains of southern Georgia, Samtskhe Javakheti \u201cWhenever I go back to Samtskhe \u00adJavakheti I feel [more >>>]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-georgia","category-georgia-minority-rights"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/covcasbulletin.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Covcas-Georgia-Javakheti-paravani-lake-Freunde-von-Freunden-Daro-Sulakauri.jpg?fit=1600%2C1067&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2329,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2327\/revisions\/2329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}