Nestan is a 14-year old Georgian high school student who has spent nearly a year photographing demonstrations in Tbilisi, Georgia. Since the Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced that Georgia is suspending its bid for European Union integration last week, mass protests have swept the country. Full integration into the EU is enshrined in Georgia’s constitution, a promise the government has now turned its back on.
This interview, as told to Nadia Beard, reflects what’s at stake in Georgia from the perspective of the young people whose future now hangs in the balance.
What’s happening now is the go-to conversation starter here. People are always asking: what do you think is going to happen? I’ve been taking photos for nearly a year, since the foreign agent law protests this spring. So far, I haven’t missed much school, except for the times when we weren’t able to get there because of masked cops blocking the streets. Though now my school has announced that, in solidarity with protests, they’ll close, so no school for a week.
When Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Georgia will stop pursuing European integration until 2028, it triggered young people into action and now there’s a huge wave of them out on the streets.
First, for a week in the spring, I was protesting with my friends, but I wanted to do more. I also grew up in a household of journalists, and I felt that just protesting — just being there — wasn’t enough. When you’re young, people your age are easier to photograph. They look at you differently. It’s more comfortable. I think that comes out in my images. And feel I help protesters more by photographing who they are and showing the world what’s going on beyond the fireworks and gas.
I call this a Georgian family portrait. Because it’s his son and his wife looking at the husband. I wasn’t sure if they wanted me to photograph them, and I smiled and she had no problem I guess. It was nice to see the wife comforting her husband. Even here, you can see that the husband is holding his wife. The image speaks for itself.
I want to become a professional but I also know that I’m young and just starting. In general that’s OK because I think a lot of my images were better because I can go behind the scenes and people are less afraid of me because I don’t put on this big serious, media face.
I love photographing the protests. It’s so tiring but also so fulfilling, to watch people and see how they are united. I was at a protest and I got tear-gassed and some people, wrapped in flags, came and helped us immediately. They were walking on the upper streets, talking on the phone, and they had milk for you, saline solution. They just pass by and ask if you need saline and put it in your eyes and then go on to the next person. I remember saying “I need water”, and before I knew it there were like five people at the ready with bottles of water for me.. It really showed me how many heroes there are. People aren’t afraid. Even yesterday, when people got gassed, they ran away, and another wave came to replace them in the crowd. It’s almost as if they’re on shifts. It’s really cool to see how people are helping each other in any way possible.
This was a few days ago. It wasn’t when they were gassing people. There was so much gas left over from the night before because they mix gas with water now. The smell was very intense. I was also having a hard time seeing and breathing. It was very strong. This boy was just there with tears in his eyes, and the girl went to help him.
The other day I was taking a taxi to the protests and the taxi driver asked me “are you going to the protest?” and I said yes, and I was thinking, I wonder what he’ll say. And he asked “how much do I owe you to pay you back?” I asked him what he meant, and he said “you’re going to do such a good deed, how can I ever accept money for you doing that?” And I said no, please, and he started crying. He said how cruel it is, what these cops are doing to people and how it’s so emotional for him and that the future of the country is hanging by a thread right now. It was just so moving to see this grown man cry about his country.
Young people are very angry and they are not thinking about anything else apart from the protests. There are no other priorities. The priority is to save our country. Protesters say we are protecting you and your kids’ future so you don’t wake up in Russia tomorrow.
This was two days ago when we got very badly gassed, me and my dad. People were holding onto each other, telling each other “it’s OK” and that we have to be together and walk carefully. Then people started panicking a bit, but it was OK. People came to help us. You can see the tears in this man’s eyes, he’s scared of the teargas, but the other man in the Soviet gas mask is calming him down and helping him — emotionally and physically.That day I was mostly photographing ambulances. I heard someone say that this boy had fallen off parliament. During the protest, people always sort of left a gap in the crowd so people could run through. Here you can see a protester helping to carry the stretcher.I saw a lot of couples like this, but also strangers holding hands to get through a crowd. You can see in her face that she’s worried, maybe about being gassed or about the country’s future and her future.Here, protesters went to the Pirveli (pro-government TV station) office and demanded to be able to hold a debate on live TV, because many people in small villages are watching this propaganda TV channel and they don’t know what’s really going on. They don’t know how the masked cops are beating people up because it’s not shown. After this, the protesters forced themselves into the foyer, demanded a “live” — and they got it.People started chasing a cameraman and journalist from (state-supported) Imedi TV, and they chased them all over the protest, throwing eggs and water on them and shouting. Not attacking them but being aggressive and not letting them film. An opposition politician, Elene Khoshtaria, came and protected them, told the protesters not to touch the media, that they’re here to report and just doing their job. Later, she was hit by a water cannon, fell down and her hand was broken.I like this because it’s one policewoman in a sea of men. Before I took the photo, there was a woman arguing with all the police and they all had different expressions on their faces. One is looking interested, the other one is like, “what is she talking about?” They’re all thinking. But what are they thinking? Whose side are they on? Maybe they want to join the protesters but can’t….This was near the suburb of Saburtalo— it’s a teenager. It was early on, at the start of the protest, when the marches were just getting underway. The atmosphere was different—open, spacious. There were some people on bikes, which felt very European, not something you see much in Georgia. They had music playing from a truck that rolled along, and they gave people the mic to speak. Honestly, it was one of the most organized protests so far.This was in March 2024. There were a lot of young people. It was very colourful. This guy is actually on a skateboard and playing music.This protest was organized by a young student movement called Dafioni. Last year, they led several student marches, and this was one of them, when students stormed their university.. On the board, the message was clear: “No to the Russian law.”This is one of my favorite pictures I’ve taken. It feels more like a painting than a photograph. It’s nighttime at a student march, and there’s a girl who looks beautiful. The image captures the mood perfectly—people are clearly tired but still determined to keep pushing on.. I don’t know if she was hiding from the camera or if it was a joke. A lot of young people were going to the protests—some were kids sneaking out of their homes to be there. This was one of the days they were camping by parliament, around two weeks ago. She was just standing there in this crowd of police, and all the police were looking at her. Most of the time, their faces looked indifferent, like they were made of glass.This was one of the days of non-stop protesting. Police were really beating people and trying to arrest them. Usually they beat people up at night, but here it was in the day— around midday. People who had been there for two days nonstop were leaving, and others were coming. Like they were on shifts. The couple in the photo started napping. Later they shared snickers and coffee with policemen next to them.
