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

PERSONAL PROJECTS: House Divided

(on those living near the occupied borderlines of two breakaway regions of Georgia).  

What does it feel like when you are living on the edge… to be perpetually on the edge of losing, say, a part of your house? Or waking up to find that your house is divided with  

your living room in your own country, but your kitchen now residing within enemy-occupied territory? 

Inhabitants of villages in South Ossetia must prepare for this reality, and more of them are having such experiences as time passes. After a brief war in 2008, Georgia lost another portion of its territory to Russian occupation, expanding South Ossetia as a de facto ‘breakaway’ region. This volatile situation has been percolating ever since, for more than ten years. (A similar dynamic occurred in the early 1990’s between Georgia’s Abkhazia region and Russian ‘peacekeeping’ troops.) Since those conflicts occurred, occupying Russian forces continue to play psychological games with nearby residents, including the phenomenon of ‘creeping borders’ which change without notice with little to no attention — much less pushback — from the international community. 

Astounded that my country’s territorial limits could be so overtly tampered with on such a regular basis, I started to photograph various villages that border the occupied territories. 

My photographs are of the people who are most directly affected: the residents themselves. I photographed their homes, their villages, their surroundings—places where they experienced key events in their lives as part of a post-conflict reality. Here are a few vignettes from the lives of these victims of ‘border creep’, or ‘border flow’. I hope to bring a small relief to them, these ordinary citizens whose voices have been silenced by happenstance, and to raise awareness about the illegal actions at the administrative boundary lines. 

 

  • 2017. Georgia, Khurvaleti Village. Khurvaleti is one of the hot points of borderization by the Russians. The Family which wishes to not name them, live right near the barbed wire fence. Their house wall is leaning on the border of the de facto region of South Ossetia. {quote}Erase my name on the photo, because you never know, they borderization is taking place in my back yard{quote}, says the man seating on the left side of the photo.
  • Georgia; Yellow - breakaway region of South Ossetia.Dvani, Nikozu, Beshueti - villages I visited.
  • 2010. Georgia, Tserovani IDP settlement. A mother and daughter walk along a road that leads to and from Tserovani, a village created for Georgians forced to flee South Ossetia.
  • 2017. Georgia, The village of Nikozi, which rests just south of the South Ossetia border, was heavily bombed during the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. At the time of the conflict, Metropolitan Isaiah of Nikozi and Tskhinvali Eparchy, led a congregation that included people on both sides of the border. He chose to stay in South Ossetia with a portion of his community for three years, until finally returning home to Nikozi.
  • See project {quote}House Divided{quote} for more info.
  • 2009. Georgia, Village Nikozi. {quote}13th we are invaded, 14th we are alive{quote}, written on the wall of the house, from the familiy who hid from the Russian forces during the bombing of Nikozi Village.
  • 2017. Georgia, Khurcha Village. Nino 12 years old with make-up on her face. Nino and her 8 Siblings have status of refugees from Abkhazia, as their mother is from Gali region.
  • 2008. Georgia, Gori city. A drawing of the 2008 war made by Tsotne, 12 years old, school student. After the war my parents traveled to Gori and gave art lessons to children who suffered from trauma from the war.
  • 2010. Georgia, Tserovani IDP settlement. Stadium, an afternoon after school. Tserovani, settlement built by the Georgian government to house Georgians who were forced to flee South Ossetia when the Russians invaded.
  • 2017. Georgia, Nikozi Village. The village was heavily bombed during the Russian-Georgian war in 2008. A photo of elderly couple. The mand in the picture hanged photograph as a memory of her wife, who died during the war.
  • 2017. Georgia, Orsantia Village. A child takes a swim in the Enguri River, which is used as the borderline of the Russian-supported separatist territory of Abkhazia. The river was previously known as a good location for safely crossing into Abkhazia, but recent installation of barbed wire fencing and surveillance equipment has stalling those crossings.
  • 2017. Georgia, Selfies of best friends seperated from each sides of the Enguri river. Khurcha village is controlled by Georgia, while Nabakevi village is now a base of  Russian forces on the de facto region of Abkhazia. Once in a while they call each other on the phones and meet near the barbed wire fence.
  • Georgia; Yellow - De facto region of Abkhazia.Rikhe, Shamgona, khurcha, Orsantia - villages I visited. Tkhaia, Pakhuliani .. ongoing.
  • 2017. Georgia, locals with Abkhazian or Russian documents on the road to Enguri checkpoint, which is counted to be the only remaining checkpoints between the de facto region of Abkhazia and Georgian controlled territory. It is almost unreal to cross with a Georgian Passport.
  • 2016. Georgia, Village Napati. The location was one of the control point of the de facto region of Abkhazia and Georgian controlled territory. Once you crossed the bridge you were in Abkhazia. The bridge used to be a railroad which was bombed by the Russians in the 1993 war and is strictly off limits to non Abkhazians.  After March, the bridge  is not longer functioning.
  • 2008. Georgia, Gori city. A drawing of the 2008 war made by Nato, 12 years old, school student. After the war my parents traveled to Gori and gave art lessons to children who suffered from trauma from the war.
  • 2017. Georgia, A family stands near their corn field in Pakhulani village.
  • 2017. Georgia, On the road to Enguri checkpoint, which is counted to be the only remaining checkpoints between the de facto region of Abkhazia and Georgian controlled territory. It is almost unreal to cross with a Georgian Passport.
  • 2017. Georgia, Nine-year-old Nana plays in her yard in the village of Khurcha on the southeastern border of Abkhazia. One of eight siblings, she is a folk dancer who hopes to become famous.
  • 2017. Georgia, Residents of the village of Khurcha participate in a church ritual. Prior to March 2018, the village was one of the main checkpoints in and out of Abkhazia. It has now become more isolated.
  • 2017. Georgia, Otari stands in his home in Khurvaleti village, near the southern border of South Ossetia.(Otar passed away in 2019).
  • 2017. Georgia, Khurcha-Nabakevi checkpoint. Before March this was one of the most active checkpoints between  the de facto region of Abkhazia and Georgian controlled territory. Now as the Russians have closed its borders, the village has become quiet and isolated. Once you cross the bridge it is no longer a territory controlled by Georgia. Children take swims, sometimes crossing the border. A small stream of Enguri River separates the checkpoint between Khurcha and Nabakevi, which is patrolled by Russian border guards and Abkhaz customs officers. There are no police on the Georgia-controlled part of the crossing.Khurcha village is also known for its incident when Georgian man was killed by an Abkhaz border officer.
  • 2017.  Georgia, Nikozi Village. Mariam, 18 years old. Living close to the occupied territory, remembers the war with Russia in 2008, says she will never forget it. Her village was bombed during the war.
  • 2017. Georgia, Children play outside in Dvani village, located on the southern border of South Ossetia.
  • 2017. Georgia, Khurvaleti settlement, near South Ossetia. IDP's family cottage.Children taking a rest.
  • 2011. Georgia, Nikozi. A village near Tskhinvali, South Ossetia.  Paata stands near the fenced property. Due to suspicious unexploded bombs left after the russian invasion, locals fences numerious terrtories in the village.
  • 2011. Georgia, Nikozi. A village near Tskhinvali, South Ossetia. A mother with her four children escaped the russian troops that invaded their village. After South Ossetian war in 2008 their house was bombed, they now live in their grandparents house, which survived the bombing.
  • GEORGIA. 2017. Locals with Abkhazian or Russian documents on the road to Enguri checkpoint, which is counted to be the only remaining checkpoints between the de facto region of Abkhazia and Georgian controlled territory. It is almost unreal to cross with a Georgian Passport.
  • 2016. Georgia, This bridge, in Napati village, was previously one of the main border crossings between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. It was once used for a railroad but was bombed in 1993. While it remained intact at the time of this photograph, it is no longer standing.
  • 2018. Georgia, near the occupied territory of South Ossetia, you can get a signal from your phone texting that now you are in Russia.
  • 2017. Georgia, Village Pakhulani. Family living next to the border. Pakhuliani is one of the two checkpoints between the da facto region of Abkhazia and Georgian controlled territory. As known to the media there is only one checkpoint crossing. While on this assignment I discovered one more village where people could cross the border with illegal documents.
  • 2017. Georgia, Locals in village Orsantia, near the de-facto region of Abkhazia.
  • 2017. Georgia, Bershueti Village. Lado (Georgian) and Mzia (Ossetian) been together for 35 years. They met at their mutual friends house. {quote}I saw her and planned to kidnap and marry her{quote}, said Lado. {quote}He still married me, even after the accident{quote}, Mzia had brutal car accident at a young age and never fully recovered.Living close to the occupied territory, after the war in 2008, they have made their way to South Ossetia without documents illegally to see their grandchild, though Mzia recalls that the stress was too much for her and she will not do it again. Bordeiring the de facto region of South Ossetia, there have been protests in Bershueti against creeping occupation and the latest move on another so-called border green banner.
  • 2010.  Georgia, Students practice traditional folk dancing at a school gym in Tserovani.
  • Lesson of {quote}Georgian culture{quote} , Tamara (age : 6) in Tserovani; A New  village built by the Georgian government to house Georgians who were forced to flee South Ossetia when the Russians invaded. Settlement with over 2001 families. A settlement of with over 2,001 families. Tamaras mother has to attend school everyday with her younger daughter, so that tamara will stop crying and stay at school. The mother has to breast feed her younger daughter in the class.Their has always been continues conflict between russia and georgia from the 1990'. When communism collapsed in 1994 the russian couldn't gain back the conrtol over Georgia that led to a eruption in 2008, a war fighting over South Ossetia, which led to  occupation of russian soldiers in ossetia and unresolved situation thats lasts already two years, the lands settlements remain mysterious. After the war about 22 thousand people are left without home and cant get back to their homeland. There are oproximatley 230 thousand refugees in Georgia.
  • 2018. Georgia, school in Koki village, close to the de facto region of Abkhazia. Georgian folk dance lesson, preparing for New Years concert. After the check point closed in Khurcha village, many kids lost access to their school in Nabakevi village. They now attend school in Koki.
  • 2017. Georgia, Children stand in their home in Pakhulani village, on the southeastern border of Abkhazia. This village is the lesser-known of the two checkpoint crossings along the border.
  • 2017. Georgia, Nini, a resident of the village of Khurcha, leans on a windowsill near the southeastern border of Abkhazia.
  • 2017. Georgia, Village Tkhaia. Tengo Mikava, 57 years old fisherman, kidnapped by the Russian soldiers. “I was fishing, they quietly creeped behind my back and pointed the gun on my feet telling me to move. I was taken Gali in Abkhazia and fined for illegal crossing”. he quotes. “This happened a day after Vladimer Putin visited Abkhazia, on August 9th”.On the photograph he is standing on the place were he was kidnapped, a zone unsafe at night.
  • 2010. Georgia. A cottage. Tserovani; A refugee settlement for 2,001 georgian families from South Ossetian war in 2008. It's one of largest village that contains two thousand cottages that was built in two month by the Georgian government. There are oproximatley 230 thousand refugees in Georgia.
  • 2017. Georgia, a brightly lit cross, erected after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, stands on the road leading to the village of Dvani. During the conflict, up to 50 houses were burned down and bombed.
  • PERSONAL PROJECTS
    • The Black Gold
    • Terror Incognita
    • Deprived of Adolescence
    • House Divided
    • Euromaidan
    • Double Aliens
    • "I was dreaming when I wrote this". My three month diary of a pandemic
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