WATER WITHOUT SALT by Arne Piepke and Ingmar Nolthing
With its length of 1,515 kilometres Kura (georgian: Mtkwari) is the longest river in the Caucasus region. It rises in Turkey, crosses Georgia and drains into the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan. With their work “Water without Salt” Arne Piepke and Ingmar Björn Nolting documented their journey along the river in Georgia – along the undefined borders of Asia and Europe. Their photographs tell stories about the daily life, the cultural and ethnical differences along the river and their personal encounters. They met farmers, unemployed people, former refugees, pensioners and an Imam – common people telling them about their life, their stories and dreams along Kura.
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- The confluence of Paravani and Kura near Khertvisi. In Georgian the Kura is called “Mtkwari“, which can be translated as “fresh water“ or “water without salt“. The Khertvisi fortress is among the oldest in Georgia and was built 200 years BC. Today it lies in ruins.
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- Nazim (58) in front of his sheeps near Keshalo, Georgia. A life as semi-nomad is very common for Georgian shepherds. Especially when temperatures are sinking, they often lead their herd hundreds of kilometres across the land. They live in poor conditions and their salary is only minimal.
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- The viewing terrace of the Jvari monastery near Mzcheta attracts many locals as well as Russian tourists. Town and monastery are considered the religious centre of the country since the 4th century. Here St. Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia, is believed to have erected a cross.
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- Marina lives with her family in a small apartment in a Soviet building in Rustawi. Her husband Coba has to live in the city because of his work as truck driver. The flowers were his wedding anniversary gift.
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- Ludmila lives with her husband Jemali in a spacious, self constructed house in Gori – the birthplace of Stalin. Still a lot of people in Gori are Stalin supporters – the former dictator is still admired here.
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- To celebrate the anniversary of Marina and Coba, the family gathered to have a supra. A supra is a traditional feast and an important part of georgian social life. During the fair the head of the family gives numerous short speeches after which a whole glass of selfmade wine is emptied in one go. On this evening they drank to the couple, Georgia, family, friendship and peace.
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- Shorena (34) is a documentary filmmaker who lives with her husband and their son in Tbilisi. “After my first film about youth unemployment I noticed that this problem does not only affect my home country. Now I’m working on a film about the conservative, orthodox education which is very common in Georgia.”
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- A small electrical heater in Coba and Marina’s apartment in Rustawi.
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- An old, abandoned petrol station near Achalziche. Beyond the main cities, a lot of soviet buildings are decaying.
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- The Kura crosses Tbilisi where a lot of unemployed men fish at the riverside. They mostly catch small fishes they keep for themselfs.
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- Takadze works with two colleagues for Heidelberg Cement in Gori. For their daily production of 600 bricks they use a 70 year old cement machine. “Actually we would better need a fourth worker to complete the work.” For the equivalent of 1 euro per hour the hard work cannot be accomplished by three workers, as Takadze explains.
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- The confluence of Aragwi into the Kura at Mzcheta. The 3000 year old city was regarded to be the capital of Georgia until the 6th century.
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- Teona, Leila, Gulnara, Irma and Leah during the potato harvest on the outskirts of Mirashkhani, the first Georgian village behind the Turkish border. Except for one family, all of the 300 inhabitants of the village are Muslims. Because of their faith, women work separated from men. The community lacks the financial resources for a water pump to additionally irrigate the fields with water of the Kura.
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- The Imam Avto (36) in his mosque in Mirashkhani. Every friday he welcomes about 200 muslims from the surrounding villages for prayer. His mosque was financed by donations and receives support by the government only since 2 years. Avto wishes, that more and more people would convert to islam, according to him the only true religion.
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- The green glowing cross on a mountain above the town of Rustawi, Georgia’s largest industrial town, was built in 1995. Today, the cross is a popular destination for young couples who still live with their parents and cannot afford a hotel room for their intimacy.