{"id":1996,"date":"2009-12-03T14:41:48","date_gmt":"2009-12-03T14:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2009-12-03T14:41:48","modified_gmt":"2009-12-03T14:41:48","slug":"georgia-on-my-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/georgia-on-my-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia on My Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
This article features in the new Control Issue of 8 Magazine. Read this and other interesting discussions of contemporary photography \u2013 Subscribe Today<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>When is a photo book not a photo book?<\/strong> Maybe when it\u2019s a love letter from President Saakashvili to the EU, touting for membership. <\/p>\n

Forgive me for being overly cynical here. Georgian Spring, a work of unparalleled beauty and no mean budget, featuring photo essays and written contributions by 10 Magnum photographers is of course a photo book, an exquisitely produced one at that. Furthermore, it makes no secret of the fact that it was created at the express invitation of the Georgian Ministry of Culture, a result of a unique friendship that has flourished between Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak and Saakashvili (resulting in a Georgian passport for the former). But this explicit acceptance of the fact that people may, to borrow Dworzak\u2019s phrase from his preface, \u201cscream propaganda\u201d is still at odds with the presentation of the work as an independent artistic project, free from the kind of branding that would make its true purpose the clearer.<\/p>\n

\"LON115299\"
Martin Parr<\/span><\/p>\n

The book\u2019s most pervasive message appears to be the familiar one that Georgia is a brave little country that\u2019s done well to escape the evil clutches of big bad Russia. Its emphasis on feasting, beautiful women and intriguing landscapes reveals little about the complex internal politics of a country that a year ago was at war over the disputed territory of South Ossetia. Moreover, a recent EU-sponsored report found Georgia to be not only every bit as culpable for its acts of aggression as Russia, but was deemed to have started the war. The smiling president, hagiographically portrayed by Dworzak in the book\u2019s only really pointless essay, behaved in a criminally irresponsible manner towards his own citizens. According to the EU report, 850 people died in the attacks, and more than 100,000 fled their homes, some 35,000 of whom are still believed to be unable to return there. The dead are not documented in this book.<\/p>\n

So\u2026 was it censorship? Did the 10 fearless photographers unearth stories that would blow government attempts to appear terribly civilised out of the water but were halted in their investigative tracks? Not at all, says Chris Boot, publisher of the book, as well as the project\u2019s independent editor, appointed by Magnum as a condition of taking on the proposal. Boot cites the speed of the project\u2019s trajectory from conception to completion (seven weeks) as one practical reason why there wasn\u2019t more editorial intervention. The book\u2019s title, with its rather questionable nod to the Prague Spring, also refers to the time span of the project, which began in earnest in late February and ended in April 2009.<\/p>\n

Boot\u2019s involvement was instrumental in that he chose the photographers and worked with them, as per his brief, to settle on an idea and bring it to fruition. His first decision was to go with Dworzak\u2019s peer group: Paolo Pellegrin, Alex Majoli and Jonas Bendiksen; Alec Soth as Magnum\u2019s current \u201cbig name\u201d; then to include Martin Parr and Mark Power, as they were expressly requested by the Georgians; Martine Franck because of her long history with the country she visited with Cartier-Bresson and where she has retained many connections, making links between past and present; Gueorgui Pinkhassov, presumably at least in part because he is Russian; and, at Magnum\u2019s persistent suggestion, Antoine D\u2019Agata. Boot, a former bureau chief at Magnum, had no previous connection with D\u2019Agata and was initially resistant to his inclusion.<\/p>\n

\"PAR367626\"
Antione D’Agata<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do a piece of work which describes Georgia \u2013 a book with real content as opposed to what has sometimes been the case with these group projects, where photographers do their personal thing but it doesn\u2019t mean much. I wanted this to be an informative book for the reader, for people to really learn about Georgia. I wouldn\u2019t have chosen D\u2019Agata. I had a suspicion about his work as an indulgent kind of egotism. But actually having met him, I\u2019ve completely changed my view. I\u2019m a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u2019Agata\u2019s work is exquisitely rendered, as ever, and was created to fit exactly into the space allocated to him in the book. It\u2019s a visceral, haunting essay, which might be drawn from anywhere, though his connections with regional myth are vivid. Only D\u2019Agata could make a Soviet-style car, bonnet and tailgate agape, look like a violated woman. There\u2019s a phrase he uses in his extraordinary accompanying text: \u201cI\u2019m scared of myself\u2026 I\u2019m scared of you\u2026 we fucked without condoms\u201d that Boot seizes upon as a metaphor for the whole project. \u201cIt\u2019s in this line that the whole point of the book rested: to allow independent photographers to freely describe a country in words and pictures. If that\u2019s propaganda, it\u2019s very 21st century!<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, I think propaganda is too strong a word,\u201d Boot continues. \u201cWe use the term in relation to communist countries or the right wing \u2013 they do propaganda. Everyone else does something gentler. All photojournalism is propaganda, all photography is too, even your family snaps. It\u2019s all motivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Georgian Spring has got a slightly promotional intention. But it\u2019s not sinister. It\u2019s not like doing a piece for Israel, for example, or apartheid South Africa. I don\u2019t know if the [Georgian] president made an error of judgment [with South Ossetia]. This book doesn\u2019t attempt to deal with that and it isn\u2019t an apology for it, nor is it a political analysis. It\u2019s just a bunch of photographers freely observing a small country. After all, what is its propaganda purpose? Georgia wants people to know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surely it\u2019s a begging letter to the EU? \u201cThey do want to join, sure. you\u2019re fundamentally right \u2013 that\u2019s part of it. One of the things the president did is to design a new flag. Whenever it\u2019s flown it has to be flown with EU flag at same time. That is what it\u2019s about. They see themselves as European but they feel very isolated wedged between Turkey and Russia. They want people to register who they are. What the Georgians wanted described was modern Georgia \u2013 if there was one thing they asked for that was it. And on that level, they didn\u2019t get it. The photographers denied them. Mark Power does deliver the modern Georgia \u2013 but he can\u2019t resist the past \u2013 the \u2018astonishing beauty\u2019 of the Soviet frieze in his words. He might well have come under pressure to \u2018disclude\u2019 that picture but he was determined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LON115448\"
Mark Power<\/span><\/p>\n

Power\u2019s work stands out in this book, for its engagement with past and present, as much as for the descriptive landscape style he has made his own, as does Majoli\u2019s powerful essay, which takes him to the borders of South Ossetia. While the sombre, desperate mood of the photographs is informed by war, there\u2019s no suggestion that Georgia was in any way culpable for its devastating effect. The circus image, the last in the sequence, offers a subversive interpretation at least.<\/p>\n

\"NYC95196\"
Alex Majoli<\/span><\/p>\n

Dworzak\u2019s own essay, however, is wildly partisan. Endless photographs show a thrusting young Twitter-friendly politician, gleaming with the kind of zeal reminiscent of Blair circa 1997. Dworzak\u2019s friendship with \u201cMisha\u201d granted him frequent though less than illuminating access to the president. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want an objective assessment of Misha\u2019s presidency, you probably wouldn\u2019t look to Thomas to do that,\u201d concedes Boot. \u201cWhen I saw the photography, I needed to know how to make sense of it; I argued that it needed a conclusion. So we came up with the idea of using his [Saakashvili\u2019s] own words. I thought it would be really revealing and I think it is. You can argue on one level that it\u2019s hagiographic, but to find out what he thinks are the most important things he\u2019s done and how Georgia\u2019s changed since he\u2019s been in power\u2026 it\u2019s open in that you\u2019re able to investigate it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among Saakashvili\u2019s soi-disant achievements is the transformation of the army, who five years ago were without food or shoes. Now the army is \u201cone of the most trusted institutions in the country and a source of great pride,\u201d he declares. He also cites the fact that he rid the nation of the corrupt criminal gang that operated as its police force. This is indeed a laudable achievement and a fascinating one, but no mention is made of how he did it, or what has happened to these men, now presumably unemployed. I can picture an Anna Funder-style investigation of these Soviet throwbacks, encountering them lurking in caf\u00e9s, nursing strong coffees and stronger grudges. <\/p>\n

There are further surprising omissions from the book \u2013 not a single image of Gori\u2019s infamous son appears, though he is referenced in the text. The archive section is notably incomplete \u2013 there are no pictures from the civil war in 1992-93, or of the violent coup against President Gamsakhurdia. Boot says that Magnum didn\u2019t have anyone working in Georgia between 1972 and 1989, and bar the occasional picture of baths by Pinkhassov from that period, the cupboard is bare. One of the most contentious geopolitical issues in the world \u2013 the pipeline running from the Caspian Sea through Georgia is also invisible, for reasons surely not solely due to its subterranean location. And the tens of thousands of protesters outside government buildings on the streets of Tbilisi in April 2009, demanding the resignation of a \u201ctyrant\u201d is a key event of the Georgian Spring that has been overlooked.<\/p>\n

\"PAR368925\"
Thomas Dworzak<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take much research to discover that organisations like the CPJ and Radio Free Europe are questioning Saakashvili\u2019s tightening grip on the media (comparing it to Putin\u2019s), or that his regime is detaining as many as 100 political prisoners. If scrutiny of the Georgian political regime yields such results, I would question the integrity of an \u201cindependent\u201d photographer who fails to carry out similar research when their very subject matter is the presidency. Admittedly, in a collection of essays, each and every one does not have to be infused with the political \u2013 surely this is why D\u2019Agata and even Pinkhassov were included. But when the darker side of the \u201cjolly men feasting\u201d trope remains hidden throughout, such omissions start to weigh heavily. And if critical responses would not have been able to appear in a publication like this, then one has to question the validity of the enterprise.\u00a0 There\u2019s a prevailing feeling in the book that everyone likes the Georgians because they are fundamentally \u201cpeople like us\u201d and it\u2019s precisely this liberal whitewash that renders the purpose of this gorgeous-looking book ill-defined.<\/p>\n

The PR machine for this joint venture has been in full swing. The very first hand bound copies were given to US Vice President Biden, in a ceremony that can also be enjoyed on YouTube. It\u2019s a big beast in the photography book publishing world, though how big, I can\u2019t say for sure\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid I won\u2019t be called on the budget or exact print run,\u201d said Francesca Sears, Magnum London\u2019s editorial director. \u201cSuffice to say multiple thousands of copies were printed in four languages with co-publishers of Boot, including Kehrer in Germany, RM Editorial in Spain (published out of Mexico), and Textuel in France. The Georgians also have several thousand copies to use for promotional and diplomatic purposes in country and on the political world stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Magnum has always undertaken work of this kind (it has produced books for South Korea, Greece and Turkey among others), this mega-production from the prestigious House of Boot seems a reflection of the times that in order to generate income for its photographers, it has to crawl rather closer to power than is comfortable, power that some of it members would once have sought to scrutinise. I wonder if Philip Jones Griffiths would have had any truck with Georgian Spring.<\/p>\n

Boot cites the lack of editorial interference, and believes this project allowed photographers more freedom to work that any magazine ever could. \u201cIt was an open brief for photographers to discover somewhere on their own terms; a really rare opportunity.\u201d Beyond a photograph by Parr \u2013 of a grumpy man selling potatoes out of a car boot \u2013 that Dworzak wanted removed (he got his way but it stayed in the accompanying exhibition that has so far been seen in Berlin and Madrid and is at the time of writing looking for a London venue) and a sentence the Georgians objected to (which stayed), the only \u201cstate control\u201d imposed was the inclusion of the postcard section that precedes the main content. I \u2013 wrongly \u2013 interpreted them as a Parr-style ironic intervention. Their inclusion came about because the Georgians wanted to see their beauteous landscapes represented, and their add-on status is apparently a not untypical Georgian method. \u201cThomas says that if a Georgian is buying a house and there\u2019s an aspect they don\u2019t like, they won\u2019t change it or pull out but will add on something new. The postcard section is our Georgian balcony,\u201d says Boot.<\/p>\n

Readers will be charmed by the postcards of the Gelati Monastery, by Tusheti and Khevsureti, and indeed by this book, as everyone who has ever been to Georgia is charmed by the supras, the women and the vistas of this \u201cplucky little country\u201d. None of us is immune to the power of enchantment. But as Camus noted: \u201cCharm is a way of getting the answer yes without asking a clear question.\u201d
Max Houghton<\/p>\n


AUDIO DOWNLOAD<\/strong><\/span>
<\/span>Max Houghton asks Chris Boot about propoganda, book commission and charming the reader<\/span><\/span>. Listen to their recent conversation at HOST gallery.
{mp3}chrisboot\/georgiaspring{\/mp3}
Download the full audio mp3 by click saving this link
Georgia Spring: Max Houghton speaks to Chris Boot<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(This article features in the new issue of 8 Magazine, read this and other interesting articles and photo stories on contemporary photography by Subscribing here<\/a> and we’ll post this and subsequent issues to you directly.)<\/span><\/span>
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