Goals

Problem statement:

According to the data of National Statistics Office of Georgia in 2014, 11, 6% of the population, that is 432, 564 people live below the poverty line. Despite the intensity and scales of the problem, it (poverty and unemployment) is not on the political and informational agenda. The government is doing nothing in order to re-train and then employ these citizens and is limited to giving monthly social allowances, which does not solve the problem. The issue is not prioritized by media resources either. The attention of the media towards poverty is fragmentary and superficial.
poverty is not brought to the agenda by modern Georgian Arts either. The disposition of the modern Georgian Arts is usually elitist, and is closed for social issues. An artist does not want to do the politics of the Arts. This situation especially reflects itself in Visual Arts.
The idea of the project “invisible Hand” implies the photo shooting and exhibition of open fridges of poor families, in order to visualize their poverty. Also, making of video installation on the topic of poverty. The photos will be accompanied by short descriptions about the situation of the families.
The aim of the project is to highlight the problem of poverty and unemployment by means of Visuals Arts in the media and society, as well as to initiate public, in-depth discussion.

Proposed Solution:

The following activities are envisaged within the scope of the project:
1. Creation of the Facebook page and YouTube channel of the project.
2. Purchase requisition of the equipment envisaged by the project.
3. Photo shooting of the fridges of the miners from Tkibuli.
4. Photo shooting of the fridges of the miners from Chiatura.
5. Photo shooting of the fridges of IDP-s.
6. Photo shooting of the fridges of the families residing near the occupation line.
7. Photo shooting of the fridges of vulnerable families.
8. Photo shooting of the fridges of MP-s [in order to show the inequality)
9. Making of video installations. [ Approximately 5 one-minute videos will be made, where a project beneficiary poor person speaks for 30 seconds about the meaning of poverty, and for 30 seconds a politician (majoritarian MP of her/his district] speaks about the meaning of poverty.
10. The photo exhibition and public discussion in Tbilisi [Manuscripts Museum] and Kutaisi [Praxis workshop] with the involvement of Non-Governmental sector, government representatives and the media.Discussion in Kutaisi – the Arts, as the resistance technology.
Discussion in Tbilisi – Georgia’s social politics and professional education, as a tool to reduce poverty
In the modern societies visual tools are considered as the most effective means of telling a story. Visual materials, rather than text, better manage to perceive an event completely and with all the intensity. Thus, the visualization of poverty will contribute to demonstrating the problem of poverty in the media, society and government with all its severity.
And public discussions will outline what can be done. As I have already mentioned, Georgian photo documentalistics is badly developed. Photo works are mainly the objects of aesthetic enjoyment and do not show the critical reality that we live in. Photo documentalistics do not create the political agenda.

Sustainability:

Consequently, this project aims at creating a precedent in the existing vacuum, photo-video arts that can become the initiator of changes and alter people’s lives.
After the project is over, I intend to keep shooting the photos of fridges and loading them on the Facebook page, but not the photos of certain social groups, but the fridges of all families, regardless of their situation. In the long run, this project has the potential of becoming as viewed and recurrent as is “Humans of New York”.