The aim of this project was to work towards a publication that both visualizes and locates a notion of Georgian culture, with a special focus on historical and cultural awareness and its consequences in the (then) present context of transformation.

The Museum of Lore and Ethnography in Tsageri is located at the foot of the higher Caucasus Mountains. It falls under the authority of the regional government, department of Sports, Tourism and Culture of ‘raion’ Tsageri.

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The museum as an organization responsible for preserving and transmitting history and culture and the ethnographic and archeological collection itself, formed an interesting and most relevant starting point for the wider interest of the project.
The musem’s collection and how it is presented, are the traceable expression of the more ungraspable ‘way of living’, ‘way of thinking’, ‘way of perceiving and interpreting’ that have manifested themselves in Georgian culture throughout the times.

Several stays in Tsageri and Tbilisi have provided information, images and experiences: an initial working period of 3 months
plus several shorter working periods of 3 weeks at the V. Makharoblidze Museum of Lore and Ethnography in Tsageri and in
the capital Tbilisi to do additional research.

In October 2007 the project was nominated for the Prize for Unique Photography 2007; the PUP Award is issued by HUP gallery, Amsterdam. The first handmade copy of the book was presented between October 11 and November 8, 2008 at the ACF - Amsterdams Centrum voor Fotografie at the exhibition A Perfect Book. An edition of 50, 'Past and Present Tsageri', was published in 2009 and partly distributed in Georgia. Photo work from this project has been exhibited in the Netherlands and Belgium.

This project was made possible with the support of:

European Cultural Fund

Gulliver Connect Program (at Felix Meritis Amsterdam) / OSI

Royal Netherlands Embassy in Tbilisi / Nuffic

Cultuurcentrum Sint-Niklaas