Tbilisi. Children in traditional costumes during Georgia's 101st Independence Day anniversary celebrations.
Always seemingly just out of view, teasing only a glimpse of their snowy peaks. The Caucasus wrapped themselves in clouds again today, retreating into the myths, wars and millennia they helped shape. A landscape of stone and saga, forever evading me, and the present.
Gori. A mural on Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue adorns a wall, still pock-marked with bullet holes, made during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.
Tbilisi. Protesters hold a banner reading “Russia is an occupier” during demonstrations sparked by the appearance of a Russian MP in the Georgian Parliament. The protests, which continued for several days, led to the resignation of Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze after police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.
After a long night hemmed in between protestors and armour clad police, with the flashbang headache lingering and the acrid taste of tear gas still in my mouth, I found myself envying Tbilisi's riot dogs. They seemed to know when it was time to sleep it off.
Tbilisi. Torn campaign posters for Grigol Vashadze, the opposition presidential candidate, alongside Georgian Dream campaign material. The fractured imagery reflects the country's increasingly polarised political landscape.
Pankisi. Kist elders perform a Zikr prayer calling for "Marsha kavkaz", meaning "peace in the Caucasus. The Kists are ethic Chechens who migrated to the Pankisi region of Georgia in the aftermath of the Second Chechen War in 1999.
Cross Mountain, Borjomi. Illuminated St. Nino’s grapevine crosses stand above the valley town, which operated as a premier network of state sanatoriums under Soviet rule.
Telavi. A guesthouse owner at his rural home in Georgia's Kakheti wine region, after an afternoon of homemade chacha.
Gori. A child passes a death mask of Joseph Stalin at the Stalin Museum.
Telavi. A Chokha and Kartuli Dress, traditional attire for the peoples of the Caucasus, in a store window display.
Schinaghi. Memorial poster found in an abandoned building reads “Georgian writers who died in the Great Patriotic War,” depicting notable writers—including Mirza Gelovani and Severian Isiani. Part of Georgia's 'Golden Boys,' this generation was completely lost to the Eastern Front.
Telavi. Soviet era apartment.
Kutaisi. A woman gazes out the window from a retro art themed café.