It’s very confusing and unsettling to wake up and have only 72 hours to make that really hard decision to either leave your house or stay on the Russian occupied territory. Overnight, the border has been unofficially redrawn by the occupied forces. Your bedroom is now located in a different country, while your living room and kitchen are still in the country where you fell asleep. The borders are not marked, so you might end up being kidnapped or detained by the Russian-backed forces.
Director: Is that a reality for many people?
Daro Sulakauri: It is a reality for many people in Georgia. In fact, about 20 percent of Georgia is occupied by Russia. Georgia is not heard or seen in the world, and many don't even know the location of the country. It's important to know what is going on today in Georgia because yeah, it happens in one region, but you never know when it's going to happen in your country or in your region. So we have to pay more attention.
My name is Daro Sulakauri. I'm a Georgian photojournalist. I started taking pictures when I was 14. I was talking with my camera. It was like an intermediary of me expressing myself.
I had like a turning point when I did my first photo project on Chechen refugees. My great grandmother was a Chechen woman, and I was always told stories about her. And during the time there was this stereotype on Chechens in Georgia, that they were all like criminals and terrorists. And I wanted to destroy the stereotype.
When I finished the story, I got emails from people saying that, thank you for showing Chechens in a different way. And so I think that was the moment I realized what power photography had and how it can really change consciousness in people and let them think differently.
From that moment, I concentrated on stories in my country that touched on taboo topics such as early marriages and conditions faced by mine workers, stories about minorities, post-Soviet health care system that created pandemic of stolen babies, and how conflict with Russia led to the surreal border dynamics I described earlier.
There are so many topics to cover in Georgia, and I feel like it's not been covered. By photographing these topics and talking about it the dialogue starts, and I think from this dialogue the change comes.
One journey I documented a 14-year-old boy telling the story about how he had to cross the occupied border onto the Russian-controlled territory to visit his ill grandmother, and kind of risking his life. And I went with him on this one trip that took us four hours to crawl, walk, hide and cross irrigation canals. We had to hide from both the Russian-backed militants and also Georgian border police. It's really dangerous for, especially journalists, because they don't know where the border is. I could not make any mistakes or I would be detained by the Russian-backed militants.
He symbolized for me our people's resilience because he loves his grandmother so much. He kind of killed the fear in him and took this road.
I think it matters to not just be a photographer who goes there and leaves and never comes back, but to actually have this connection with the people. It's not just a story that's told by a photographer, but it's a story that's told by the people who live in Georgia. It's like an archive that will let the future generation also understand what it was like to live close to the occupied territories.
Soviet Union tried to demolish our identity, but they couldn't manage because our roots are very strong, like, traditions and culture and language. So I think it's very important to tell the story of my people.
I want us to be heard.
