This photo shows a garden outside Hotel Intouristi, where an elderly woman used to grow vegetables. Aleksandre took the photo to symbolize the poverty and struggle of internally displaced persons (IDPs). He compared the woman tending the garden to a bird trying to build a nest with different materials. The photo made him sad because so many people were struggling to survive. Aleksandre explained that he only remembers IDPs planting gardens and orchards after 1998, suggesting that this represented an acceptance that displacement had become permanent.

Six years ago Ia noticed this important support pillar wearing away in one of Tskaltubo’s brutalist sanatoria buildings. Ia characterized the erosion of this column as a harbinger of impending catastrophic collapse. She was most afraid of this place and avoided it as much as possible, although she worried because children played here. With this photo, she explained that “the sanatoriums are not just boring places, but they are dangerous too.” Praying every night she asked: “God please give us a peaceful morning.”

Recalling the story of how she fled Sokhumi during the war, Lana asked, “Why would I take this coffee grinder”? She carefully arranged these small objects to show what remained of her former life in Abkhazia. In doing so she explained, “This is everything to me…my royalties.”

Black soot offers a painful reminder of the elderly woman who died in a fire at Sanatorium Megobroba. Despite working, the woman did not earn enough to afford her electricity bill. Once the electricity had been cut off, she started using a candle for light. After she fell asleep one night, the curtain caught fire, which spread to the rest of the room. During the Shevardnadze government the electricity had been free for displaced populations. Under more recent governments, the power company installed electric meters enabling them to charge individual displaced families. Lika shared this photo as a way to keep the memory of the woman who died alive.

This photo was taken from a shared bathroom inside one of the buildings of Sanatorium Metalurgi. Despite the grand architecture of many of the sanatoria buildings, Mano described the reality of the conditions as uninhabitable. She used this photo to emphasize the human desire for comfort, stating “No one should live in these conditions.” She added, “We, both humans and buildings, are waiting to be saved.”

This photo shows a connecting bridge between parts of Sanatorium Tskaltubo. In the background, two men were playing backgammon “enjoying their time.” Taso explained that it was always raining concrete here. As a result, she did not allow her children to play in this space.

This photo shows a blue tiled bathroom with a vanity and bathtub.  Above the tub, a metal tank was fastened to the wall and braced by wood. This tank was a creative solution for holding and heating water, especially when running water was not guaranteed. Valeria reluctantly shared this photo. With unease, she told the story of this picture to assert the dehumanizing impacts of infrastructural conditions and the importance of basic hygiene to dignity.

Valeria used the metaphor of birds fleeing a forest fire to capture the experience of displacement. She explained how birds settled in nests next to each in spite of the fact that some had been sparrows and others had been eagles. Rich or poor: it did not matter when they came to live in Tskaltubo because displacement was a great social equalizer. Looking at each unique balcony, she imagined the scared faces of internally displaced persons (IDPs), each asking, “How should I live now?” Explaining that everyone was grateful to have survived the war, Valeria stated, “Even though this building looks like a slum, this was a hope for us…Even though it looks so dirty and horrible outside, we cleaned it inside and made it our home.”