Just finished photographing first part of a new project. The project whatever media it turns out to be, is meant to analyze the identity of small nations situated on in the mid- fields of larger political players. Here is an example:
Abkhazia, a tiny enclave on the Black Sea, is one of the oldest nations in Caucasus. It stands today in the wreckage left by the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict of 1992–1993 and is subject to an economic blockade; a direct result of the most recent conflict in August 2008. In its present state Abkahzia exists in limbo, there is no visible reconstruction, and niether are there outward signs that Abkhazia either approves or disapproves of its most recent patron and annexer— Moscow. The juxtaposition of wartime rubble with its almost indefineably light holiday air, causes its infrequent visitors to describe Abkhazia as a dream.
If a dream is what it is, it is entirely the dream of others: a re-occuring dream so old that it may lie at the very core of contemporary Abkhazia— Abkhazia is a country of occupations, and more than anything else, the state of being occupied has left the deepest imprints in Abkhazian history. Fought over since the 9th century BC, Abkhazia has fallen to the Byzantine Empire, Grecian trading ambitions, the Roman Empire, an Arab incursion of the Ottoman Empire, and the communist rule of the Soviet Union. Now Abkhazia exists, between defacto independance and economic annexation, as more of an idea of itself than anything else. It has all the necessary ingredients to prosper and yet it remains a ruin, undefinable; the composite dream of a thousand empires.
Certain US-made war ephemera spotted in Khodory Gorge.
Following the resolve of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in 2008, Abkhazia agreed to accept Russian military presence in the region.
Destroyed, Northern end city that was once considered the luxurious, and was reserved as a holiday spot for political celebrities of the Stalinist Era.
Although the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazi was officially resolved in August of 2008, only three countries, Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, recognized the Abkhazian elections and sovereignity of Abkhazia.
An Abkhazian theater during the December rehearsals of the christmas play, 12 Months written by a renown Russian children’s book writer, Samuel Marshack.A
