Exhibition "Drive". Documentary photo project on the life of Georgian shepherds

Year after year, Georgian shepherds drive sheep flocks to summer mountain pastures. The driver’s life cannot be called easy: months on the road, simple food and lack of overnight. For the younger generation, the lifestyle of a simple shepherd already seems unattractive.

Photographer Yevgenia Shabaeva spent ten days with Georgian shepherds driving sheep to make a documentary photo story about a profession that may soon cease to exist.

We present to your attention a unique exhibition "Drive", dedicated to shepherds and the world that surrounds them. It included 32 photographs from a series of works made by the author in Georgia during the drive of a flock of sheep from Rustavi to Kazbegi. The works presented at the exhibition provide an opportunity to look at the daily life of modern shepherds, who still continue to live the way their ancestors lived thousands of years ago.

Working on the project, Eugenia set out to show the life and customs of shepherds as they really are. Her black and white photographs reflect the essence of what is happening, giving the opportunity to see the everyday life of the drivers without embellishment and unnecessary details, without cinematic romanticism and Hollywood gloss. Each photograph has its own story, the unique atmosphere of life conveyed by the author, filled with high-altitude air and hard physical labor.

To be a shepherd means to be alone with nature. Watching the secluded and measured life of shepherds, far from the excitement and bustle of worldly life, the photographer comprehends simple and eternal truths that disappear in the bustle of everyday life. The author of the “Peregon” project invites viewers to take part in comprehending the era that is leaving in the past and try to humanly understand for themselves the connection of time and generation.

About the author:

Evgenia Shabaeva was born and raised in Yalta. She graduated from the cinematography department of the Institute of Culture and Art in Kiev. In 2009 she was awarded the gold medal of the International Federation of Photographers AFIAP. She began her career as a photographer with fashion shootings for the glossy edition of Playing Fashion. After graduation, she devoted herself completely to creative projects, portrait and documentary photography. Among her projects is the family project La Famiglia, personal exhibitions in the Crimea and Georgia.

The exhibition of works by Evgenia Shabaeva "Drive" will last from December 22, 2016 to January 22, 2017. Vernissage will be held on December 21 at 20.00.