Sunday 3 December 2023

Awards for Georgia Doukhobor Photos

... and a new book about Doukhobors in Georgia with 90 color prints.
 
Click to Enlarge.

"Finalist: Natela Grigalashvili: Doukhobor women pick flowers on the Holy Blue tumulus or kurgan, which they visit every year", in 6Mois award for photojournalism – winners and finalists, ... chosen from 177 applications from 40 countries. ... The Guardian, 19 Oct 2021.

This photo of Doukhobor women in Georgia was selected as one of 12 finalists for an international biannual 6Mois Photojournalism Award in 2021. It's #12 of 35 photos in Grigalashvili's project "The Doukhobors' Land". The French name of the Award and cosponsoring magazine translates as "6 months". Two men split the first prize of €10,000 (CAN$14,000) which is awarded twice a year.


In 2021 the project was published as a 144-page bilingual French-English book — La Terre des Doukhobors —144 pages, 90 photos, cost €30.00 (CAD44.00), also at Amazon.com.

Grigalashvili, born in 1965 in Khashuri, Georgia, is an independent documentary photographer and the first female Georgian photojournalist. She was born in an grew up in a town between Doukhobors' land and Tbilisi, and now lives in the capital Tbilisi. She mainly works on long-term documentary projects in the rural areas of Georgia focusing on the lives and issues of people living in villages and provincial cities. (About Natela Grigalashvili, LensCulture, 2023) Her colour photos are published in several European magazines.


The day she first visited these Dukhobors in 2013 happened to be during a funeral. She was so overwhelmed with the ritual that she stated: "I decided to die as a Doukhobor."

Video interview, at minute 10:53..

See her translated interview segment about Doukhobors in Georgia (minutes 7:48 to 12:19) in Natela Grigalashvili - In search of something extraordinary in the ordinary, Sakartvelo Insight, 2022 October 26.

About the award photo caption: "Doukhobor women pick flowers on the Holy Blue tumulus or kurgan, ..."
  • "tumulus or kurgan" refer to huge mounds of dirt covering ancient graves and are among the 10 "holy" mountains and hills that surround Dukhoboria (Dukhobor land) in Georgia
  • The "Blue krugan" is "Sinii Kurgan (aka Lushechkin Kurgan, Kachal Gora, Gora Madatapa)". Sinii and gora are Russian for the color "blue" and "mountain" respectively. Link is to the Doukhobor Gazetteer by Jonathan Kalmakoff.
  • Grigalashvili explained: "There are four mountains nearby — Holy Kurgan, Blue Kurgan, Ivanis Mountain, and Big Abul. The Doukhobors consider these mountains to represent a sort of border of 'The Doukhobors' Land' [Dukhoboriya]."

Click to Enlarge.

The map above is adapted from "Doukhobor Settlement in Georgia, 1841-Present" by Jonathan Kalmakoff. For more detail, click on the satellite toggle icon in the lower left. Then click on "... 50 more", left middle, to see list of all 51 locations. Click on blue dots and pins for location, more information and links to Doukhobor Gazetteer. Many places have alternate names. 

Dukhobors arrived in the 1840s when this territory was conquered by Russia and called Tiflis Governorate. Find 11 cemeteries (including Mogilochki), 9 villages, 8 valleys/gulleys, 5 kurgans, 5 mountains (gora), 4 prayer houses (2 at Molgilichki), 4 streams (rodnik), 1895 Burning of Arms site, Sirotsky dom, etc.

"The last twenty years have been especially difficult for Doukhobors. No one can say why most of them have decided to return to Russia. There are different versions: betrayal, fear, persecution, false promises. Nowadays there are approximately 150 families left, mostly in Gorelovka. Youth is in minority in the community. Lack of opportunities in education and work is forcing them to leave their villages and the country." (Natela Grigalashvili : The Doukhobors' Land : Project info, 2023)

The 6Mois contest was started in 2019 "... to support photographers who like to tell stories ... to astonish, embark, move... with authenticity, relevance, commitment. Entrants must present a project already started which tells a story through photographs."
More about Natela Grigalashvili
In 2011 documentary photographer Agnes Montanari won a similar award. — Georgia Doukhobor Photos Win 3rd Place at International Competition in Italy, Spirit-Wrestlers Blog, 14 August 2011.
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