Tiniko’s early life begins in Abkhazia. Her origins were ethnic Georgian. When the war between the two countries began in August of 1992, she and her family like all other Georgians in Abkhazia were caught unprepared. The conflict, one of the bloodiest in the post-Soviet era, forced her family to literally run for their lives returning to Georgia.
Her life has been steeped in trauma and stress. Once they arrived in Tbilisi, joining other refugees, they entered a deserted and dilapidated old Soviet sanatorium. With no work or money life became miserable, losing the ability to control one’s fate, suffering poverty, and sickness.
What kept Tiniko alive and functioning was the community of other Georgian Internally Displaced persons (IDP). As a group they were cohesive in their attempt to improve their horrific living conditions, and helped each other in days of sickness. They shared life experiences, they were friends and an extended family for each other. They provided a home in the larger sense than just four walls. They gave each other the strength to survive with some dignity.
I met Tiniko for the first time in August 2017. I photographed her and some of her friends. I returned in April 2019, thinking I will bring her my images. Upon my arrival, I found out she had died two days earlier after a long fight against cancer.
Tiniko wanted to die at home, surrounded both by her family and the larger community living in the sanatorium. She got great support in this long stress
