Victor Ray

„Station square right outside the main railway of Tbilisi consists of several sections. In one you find silver, in another gold, then you step underground into a haltless network of tunnels, then you step out again and swing between Chinese boots and preserved cabbage. The sounds are loud but clear, the air breathes old. This space entangles the diversity of life in the Georgian capital, of all that remains and contributes to this city. Where paths cross in such manner, no road cannot be said to lead with meaning.“

^{Shot with a Canon A-1 on Kodak Tri-X, 2021.}

„After visiting Trusso Valley and Stepanzminda, the mountain-paths led me to Juta, highest continuous human settlement in Europe and home of several local minority-dialects. Here, the men ride horseback and use mules to carry their gear. Here, a field of ochre velvet morphed with the miniscule second of eons into a sheet of summer-snow. Here, foundlings as large as single houses intersperse the scene and in a similar fashion myriad realizations about my own presence and stature in life rolled over me.“

^{Shot with a Canon A-1 on Kodak Ektar, 2021.}

„The men at the bus-station are constantly smoking. This is where everyone who needs to go somewhere in Georgia will pass through. Within a couple of hours, almost every corner of the country can be reached. These men, their jokes, guffaws, games and gamble, ensure that you will. But telling a Georgian to drive slower will earn you nothing but an earnest push on the gas-pedal. And wholehearted roaring, as they observe the fear etched needlessly across your face.“

^{Shot with a Canon A-1 on Kodak Ultramax, 2021.}

„An Italian, an Israeli, a German and a Finn met in a marshrutka going from Tbilisi to Stepanzminda, and following the hear-say of the Israeli’s friends, got out pre-emptively only to set foot on an abandoned parking-lot. How the driver saw them, they shall never know, but a few minutes later they sat in his Suzuki and drove along the Terek river to Trusso Valley. Whether they sifted for Gold or crossed the Russian shooting-line will never be known.“

^{Shot with a Canon A-1 on Kodak Ultramax, 2021.}

„Travelling through the Balkans by train in 2021, I inadvertently explored the neighbourhoods around the stations. Finding some of my most interesting subjects there, I decided to shed light onto these figures of heroic perseverance that wait for many things but most of all for an end to their waiting for Godot.“

^{Shot with a Canon A-1 on Kodak Gold and Ultramax, 2021.}

„Spending some days in Istanbul, Laura decided to draw her lips blood-red and slip into a dress of yesteryear. We played with color and shape, multiple exposures and objects we found in the house or in the city’s minsicule shops. The days passed in a heat, so did the nights.“

^{Shot with a Canon A-1 on Kodak Ultramax, 2021.}