Abkhazia: an ode to chaos

• Abkhazia: an ode to chaos

French photographer Aurélien Villette travels the world capturing the destroyed architectural objects and thus demonstrating the continuity of time. In 2016 he visited Abkhazia, once a popular holiday destination of the Soviet elite ( "Annie You have no idea I'm flying in Gagra C by Yakin?!.!" - as boasted in the film "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Occupation" heroine Natalia Kustinskaya) and now the area of "frozen conflict".

In November 1994, the Republic of Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia, and since there is in the political arena of the world as part of a recognized state. The Government of Georgia, the United Nations and most countries consider Abkhazia a part of Georgia, four countries - UN members, including Russia, have recognized its independence.

The photographer says that the purpose of his work was to show the consequences of the "suspended" state of the region. Houses, roads, cultural heritage objects are transformed into ruins.

Total Villette created two series of images. In the first image presented ruinirovannyh buildings of the Stalin era. According to the photographer, these images exist in the area between dream and reality. On the Abkhaz Black Sea resorts, he speaks as a "memory of the USSR" and "part of an ancient, glorious and now bygone Riviera". The second series - a kind of ode to chaos. Here the viewer is moving rapidly from the ruins of the bus stop to the new building, which means independence from the Soviet to the building of an abandoned Georgian houses. Photo: City gate. Sukhumi