Victor Ray

The Aligned Freedom Project is a participatory project combining science and art to increase social cohesion and democratic values in a critical context.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 created a sizable exodus of Russians from their country. Sources report 120.000 so-called „relokanty“ settling in neighbouring Georgia, mostly its capital Tbilisi. There, relokanty affect inflation, shifts in everyday language-use, re-flaring historical trauma, economic inequality, and political insecurity.

All this while Georgia is undergoing democratic backsliding of the fastest order. Russia currently occupies 20% of Georgian territory. An oligarch tries to align the country with his personal gains. The parliamentary elections of 2024 were heavily rigged and the Georgian Dream government later effectively suspended integration prospects of the country into the EU.

Amid tightening repression, protestors peacefully take to the streets day after day in Tbilisi to show their anger. Social polarisation between Georgian Dream-supporters and those advocating for EU-accession skyrockets. A layer of intercultural polarisation between Georgians and relokanty is also present.

The AFP is transdisciplinary research that aims for real-life change. It humanizes and amplifies participants‘ voices and fosters understanding among stakeholders.

The Aligned Freedom Project (AFP) explores the role of analog photography as a creative medium of processual reflection by delving into individual conceptions of freedom, ergo narratives of freedom. For this, it combines a photovoice-approach and in-depth interviews with social impacts.

With Georgian and Russian participants, the AFP aims to capture and collectively visualize what „FREEDOM“ denotes on a day-to-day and conceptual level. This aims to narrativize freedom for mutual, intercultural understanding and mobilize it as a vessel for pro-democratic EU-futures.

The final goal is the creation of a hybrid exhibition that is deeply embedded in the local context of Georgia and honors its historical struggle for freedom. Originally, policy-directives for minority integration and EU-accession were to be developed in cooperation with leading civil society insitutions, but the relevance of this has waned in face of current autocratic developments.

The exhibition will begin in Tbilisi and then move on to EU-countries. The impacts of ongoing protests on the subjectivities of participants will also be explored, and how this creates a new layer of societal politisation. The project keeps running and it sides with all those who spend their time and energy to stand up for what they believe: Their country’s future in the EU.

First Project-Phase:	Second Project-Phase:
10 Disposable Cameras à 39 shots.	20 Disposable Cameras à 39 shots.
5 Georgian participants.	10 Georgian participants.
5 Russian participants.	10 Russian participants.
1 cosmopolis.	1 shared space.
In-depth interviews.	Findings from in-depth interviews.
	Workshops for camera-handling.
Duration: September 2023 – March 2024.	Duration: September 2024 – August 2025.
First Exhibition: September 2024.	Final exhibition: Fall 2025.
	Final project publication: Winter 2025.

„Freedom is that which exists. Anything that does not exist, is not freedom.“

-Georgian participant.

„Someone has poisoned the views of Russians and the view about Russians.“

-Russian participant.

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