The Final Days of Georgian Nomads © Natela Grigalashvili

I really appreciate your ongoing project "Final Days of Georgian Nomads", you provide a very unique, equal, and honest perspective, as opposed to a kind of scrutiny and compassion that comes with power relations. How did you start this project? And how would you describe the way you establish communication with people who live in the villages of Georgia?

I started working on the “The Final Days of Georgian Nomads” project in 2013. At that time I was working on another project for National Geographic Georgia and that’s how I appeared in Mountainous Adjara. I immediately fell in love with place and people because you could easily feel how different the life was here – people still lived the old way, they were extremely kind and hospitable, followed many old traditions and etc. But I soon learnt that the depopulation of this region has already started many years ago and the number of people who followed nomadic lifestyle was decreasing every year. That’s when I decided to start this project – to document this place as much as possible to save things in a photo before they fully disappear.

I usually work on long term project and try to spend as much time as possible at a place that I’m photographing. When I start working on a new project I usually try to communicate with locals and set aside photographing. I want them to get to know me as much as possible so they won’t shy away from camera. I’m also very interested in their lives, what makes them happy and what makes them sad. Sometimes I end up spending days with them without photographing anything. This experiences are very valuable for me in many different ways – I learn so many new things from them and this additional information often shapes how I see place and people.

You said "One thing is to be interested in something but it’s completely different to start working on it as an artist. " I'm curious, what is the biggest difference for you? Has being an artist changed the way you create?

There are lots of topics that I’m interested in but this doesn’t mean that it will work out as a good project if I start working on it. There are some things that I know I will never be able to work on as I work on my other projects despite the fact that I might be interested in it. Sometimes I try even thou I have doubts and soon in the process I realize I was correct when I thought that this topic is not for me.

After observing and documenting the lifestyle and communities in Georgia for years, what did you notice that has changed and what has stayed the same? Do you think your creative process influenced the way you see your own hometown Khashuri?

Unfortunately, there are more changes than the things that stay same. Globalization is entering every part of Georgia and slowly changing people and the environment. Same happened to my home village near Khashuri. Not only it’s almost empty now but the life is completely different there. Almost everything from daily life in my village has disappeared – Celebrations at local churches, harvests, different local traditions. Everyone who could left the place. Now there are only few families left there.

What projects are you currently working on? Can you tell us a bit about your next step?

I’m continuing to work on my Georgian Nomads and Doukhobor community projects. I recently started working in Tkibuli and Chiatura – two cities that used to be one of the leading mining towns during Soviet period.