Republic of Georgia is more a presentiment than a reason.
I planned my first trip there to last for a month. It actually lasted half a year. From the very first day I had the sensation I was experiencing something really important, as if I was looking in a mirror reflecting a more expressive and contrasting picture of myself. The first place I visited was the isolated mountain region of Racha which for the Georgians themselves is a land of wild unpredictability. I had the impression everything there was stronger, more blunt, violent and primitive. Being there I began to ask myself some basic questions which had not been that much of importance to me before: what it meant to be a man, what it meant to have faith, what was the true worth in life?
I am fascinated by the strong Georgian identity, on the verge of megalomania. It is the world of strong ideas, of clearly identified male and female roles, and the world of people which may sometimes be confused or contesting, but by and large find those roles fulfilling.
I often hear from random people in Georgia their opinions and testimonies firmly based on simple truths about relationships, family and community. I will always remember one man saying that smelling the tip of his grandson's head made him feel young again. I find the simplicity of this sentence utterly divulging. The sentence in the title is something that i have heard from one of photographed man. For me its underline something the most important for georgian identity: the sense of continuity , the same values shared thru the generations.
