D A R O S U L A K A U R I

PROJECTS: Double Aliens

My mother always told me stories about this magical place called Samtskhe Javakheti. 

She always said that the beauty of the land is like a mystical fairytale. Telling me about her first impression there, when her father took her when she was a child. Back then the entrance of Samtskhe­Javakheti was taken by the soviet army , so you had to have a certain pass to enter and because of the terrible road conditions that existed years ago, it took nine hours to drive, despite the fact, that the region was just 200 km away from the capital. Later it was her good friend Apostle Nicholas, she introduced me too. For me he was the reason the region still had Georgian identity. His life work of trying to built a good relationship between the two ethnic groups through religion and education, restoring and building churches and schools. 

I knew a little about the history of Javakheti, that approx. 23% of Georgians live there, and that Georgians where the ethnical minority on their own land, while Armenians where the majority. At that time I was in a search of new places and stories, so I decided to travel and see for myself, thought I would never would've imagined that I would feel like a stranger in my own homeland. 

When I first arrived in the center city of the region, it felt strange that I had to speak russian in the stores to buy something, for I didn’t know armenian. Rarely did I see a georgian anywhere and it felt like something that was my own was taken away. 

Photographing the region for couple of month, I could feel the intense situation between Armenians and Georgians, the hidden hatred and conflict that was in the air. Armenians who 

lived on Georgian land for many years, started to make up stories of how the land that sheltered their ancestors many years ago was their own and it was never Georgian. Making up stories of how Georgians never lived here and the churches and castles that was build centuries ago by georgian kings was Armenian. While Georgians who for many year have been losing their lands to the neighboring countries, feared that this region too one day will be lost. The two 

ethnic groups live in separate villages, study in separate schools and use only their own mother language. There are very few villages that you will find Georgians and Armenians living together and even there they live separate lives. I started to search for the answer of why people act this way. I wanted to find a positive side of this as well. But being a Georgian I started to become more and more upset about the situation. I wanted to photograph the hidden conflict between 

the two ethnic groups, but how do you photograph something that's hidden and not visible to the eye? the conflict was so mental that there was no physical situations of what I could depict in the photos. It was like photographing the invisible , which is just impossible. 

Whenever I go back to Samtskhe­Javakheti I feel like the time doesn't exist, it has been frozen, just like the relationship between the two ethnic groups, I feel like it will never change. 

My photo story is a life a daily life documented of the ethnic groups living on the same land, my experience and relationship with the people I met and the search of the questions I still have. 

  • Georgia, 2013. Samtskhe­ – Javakheti region, 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, regardless that it is considered a disgrace if the girl returns home after she has been kidnaped. She now sits at home and is unable to attend University, for her father fears that she will be kidnapped again.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Paravani lake.Near the entrance into the Javakheti region.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Aragva village. Girls clean up the tables after thousands of people attended celebration of a man's survival after heart attack.
  • Georgia, 2013. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Orja Village. Wedding ceremony. The relatives dance in front of the brooms house, before walking him out to meet his future wife.
  • Georgia, 2013. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region. Hummer Jeep rented for the newly weds in the remote village of Orja.
  • GEORGIA. Orja Village. Wedding ceremony. Inside a jeep hummer riding outside in a village of Orja as the groom and bride seat with their friends and relatives.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Poka Village.Near the entrance into the Javakheti region.
  • GEORGIA. Samtskhe-Jvakheti region. Women waiting for their sheeps.Women waiting for their sheep. At evening the shepherd is leading the sheep home, so the owners must stand outside and wait for their sheep to arrive.
  • GEORGIA, 2012. Samtskhe–Javakheti Region, Poka village. An Armenian family and relatives watch TV after having hosted a feast for the film crew.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. Village Kumurdo. Atcharian and Armenian settlement.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. Poka Village. Relatives and neighbors mourn Ghumaj, 87 years old womans death. Traditionally only woman seat around the deceased before the burial.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe-Javakheti Region.  Poka village. A cemetery.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Baraleti Village. Karen (9), armenian. Karen has won several medals in school championship for running. The region struggles with lack of employment and entertainment. Karen exercises everyday to become number one runner.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Gorelovka Village. Russian School. Dukhabors on the right and armenian brother and sister on the left.
  • 27.02.2017I was visiting a family in a small village Orja, in Samtskhe-Jabvakheti region. I asked the family to take me to a local school, to get the sense of the place where the kids studied. I wanted to explore the level of education in the village. The classes have already begin when I arrived and I was left free to go in any classroom I wanted. I went to couple of classrooms, one of them was the 8th graders english class. I sat down near the desk, remembering my school years, when a teacher left a classroom for couple of minutes. That was a moment when everyone gathered on one desk to check out their friend's wedding party on a mobile phone.The moment of this girl flinging her pony tale was perfect. I did not see it coming, until the last moment. Watching her from the viewfinder, hoping I got the moment when  the pony tale was at the highest point in the air. I was wondering maybe at this moment she was thinking about her own future. She looked at totally different direction for some time. for me this is one of those moments when god gives you the opportunity to see fragment of the moment that happens fortuitously and your eyes can acknowledge and depict the moment at the best chance given. At the right time and the best of luck, you either have the picture or not. Though I do believe there could not have been a better moment to give the audience a sense of the place and situation then this moment right here.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe- Javakheti Region. Baraleti Village. Armenian School. Recess. The village ethnic majority are Armenians. Baraleti has two schools, Armenian and Georgian.“Georgian children were forgetting their mother tongue in an Armenian school, the Georgian school was rehabilitated for Georgians{quote}, says a Georgian Teacher.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Akhalkalaki City. At evenings local children come outside to play a game named “havalastop”. {quote}You will find it very rare that georgian and armenian children are playing together in a team{quote}, says a young local boy.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe- Javakheti Region. Poka Village. A local Armenian, Pasha, 36. Pasha is a handyman unemployed for couple for years now.
  • GEORGIA. 2013. Samtskhe- Javakheti Region. Orja Village.  A girl dancing for her relatives.
  • GEORGIA, 2013. Samtskhe–Javakheti region, Orja village. Harutunyan sisters make themselves up and get ready for their younger brother’s wedding ceremony.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe- Javakheti Region. Baraleti Village. Melano, Georgian, 18y, studying to get in to University. She says, she wants to study but in her village, it's common to get married right after you graduate from school, its very rare for girls to go learn in Universities, “I will do everything to get good scores, I will be special”.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. Village Kumurdo. Atcharian and Armenian settlement. Rainbow.
  • GEORGIA. 2013. Samtskhe- Javakheti Region. Orja Village.  Khanum, 18 y. was kidnapped twice for forceful marriage, regardless that it is considered a disgrace if the girl returns home after she has been kidnaped Khanums father managed to get her back.  She dances for me as her father naps in the background.
  • Georgia, 2013. Samtskhe­ – Javakheti region, Orja Village. Khanum (18) at her house. Khanum was kidnapped twice for forceful marriage. Her father managed to get her back, regardless that it is considered a disgrace if the girl returns home after she has been kidnaped. She now sits at home and is unable to attend University, for her father fears that she will be kidnapped again.
  • GEORGIA, 2012. Samtskhe–Javakheti region, Poka village. Two pilgrims near the Orthodox Church.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Poka Village, near Orthodox church. Georgians celebrating orthodox St. Nino’s Day.There has been religious conflicts throughout the years between Armenians and Georgians.
  • GEORGIA. 2012. Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. Village Kumurdo. Atcharian and Armenian settlement. Armenians, lighting church candle on a what they believe is a holy rock.
  • GEORGIA. 2013. Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. Landscape.
  • Georgia, 2012. Samtskhe – ­Javakheti region, Poka Village, near Orthodox church. Georgians celebrating orthodox St. Nino’s Day.There has been religious conflicts throughout the years between Armenians and Georgians.
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    • Shifting Borders
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    • Double Aliens
    • Error 404; Democracy Not Found
    • Anomaly
    • ONGOING: Investigative Story on baby abductions
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    • I was dreaming when I wrote this
    • As the sun rises, tale of the night disappears
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