Mariam Amurvelashvili will document the impact of Chinese and Indian labor migration on Georgian society. Amurvelashvili’s project aims to reveal the underlying issues as to why these two groups leave their home countries for Georgia. Her goal is to provide a more comprehensive portrait of daily life for these migrant communities in order to address, and hopefully dispel, the xenophobia surrounding their presence in Georgia.
Amurvelashvili is a freelance photographer and member of the online platform and collective, Georgianphotographers.com. Originally trained in philology, mastering the German language and literature, Amurvelashvili began working as a staff photographer for the daily Georgian newspaper 24 Hours in 2002 and for UNICEF’s Georgia office in 2004. Her work has been exhibited in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Her photographs have also been selected for the 2010 Angkor Photo Festival, the Tbilisi Photo Festival, the 2011 Chobi Mela Festival, the 2012 Aleppo International Photo Festival, and les Rencontres d’Arles. In 2010, Amurvelashvili was selected to participate in a young photographers’ artist-in-residence program and master class in Niort, France, and in 2011 was shortlisted for the Lucie Foundation Scholarship. In 2008, Amurvelashvili won first prize in KARAT Coalition’s photo competition and exhibition, “Through Their Eyes, Through Ours.”