Photographing the Iori River Valley
Natela Grigalashvili’s artist residency in the Iori River Valley, Georgia.
Natela Grigalashvili
Natela Grigalashvili is a Georgian documentary photographer whose work explores how people and nature shape one another. Based in Tbilisi, she grew up in a mountainous village and has a long-standing interest in rural life, traditional livelihoods, and the quiet details that reveal how communities relate to their surroundings. Her award-winning practice focuses on the stories of remote communities across Georgia and the challenges they face.
About the Residency
The Iori River Valley in south east Georgia is a landscape defined by open steppe, scrub-covered ridges and the long ribbon of gallery forest that follows the river. It is a vital part of the region’s steppe ecosystem, supporting species such as wolves, bears, gazelles and birds of prey. The Iori is the only permanent source of water in the area, shaping floodplain wetlands and creating a corridor that links habitats across the valley. Yet the landscape has also been marked by decades of pressure, including overgrazing, illegal logging and the remains of former Soviet-era infrastructure.
Working with SABUKO, Natela came to the Iori to understand how the restoration of these grasslands and gallery forests is progressing, and how communities who depend on the valley experience the changes taking place. Her residency focused on staying with nomadic shepherds, travelling through the valley across the seasons and documenting the shared story of people and land.
Following the river through the seasons
Natela’s photograph of the Dali Reservoir.
Natela spent long periods in Chachuna, travelling between the steppes and the gallery forest to observe how restoration work is influencing the valley. Walking along the Iori, she saw how water shapes the seasonal wetlands that support much of the valley’s wildlife. Spending time with SABUKO’s field teams helped her understand the pressures facing the river, from degraded pastures to the effects of the abandoned Dali reservoir.
These experiences provided the backdrop for her photography. By returning through different seasons, she followed how light, weather and grazing patterns shifted the appearance of the landscape, offering a more complete picture of how the valley functions and how restoration is beginning to take effect.
Living with nomadic shepherds
During her residency, Natela stayed with Azerbaijani nomadic shepherds who move their flocks across the valley each year. Their daily routines became central to her work, allowing her to document a way of life that depends closely on the land. She captured the long days spent tending sheep, the seasonal movement between grazing areas and the quiet domestic moments inside temporary homes.
Gaining the trust of the community shaped her photography. Women invited her into their homes, giving her a chance to record stories that are rarely seen by the wider public. These relationships also reflected the importance of community engagement in the wider restoration programme, as SABUKO works with pastoralists to support more sustainable grazing practices.
“Observing how humans alter and shape their surroundings and vice versa is an important detail for me in photography and specifically in this project.”
Natela Grigalashvili
Photography as a way to raise awareness
Natela’s conversations with shepherds, farmers and SABUKO staff gave her insight into the pressures facing the Iori. She heard first-hand how unregulated grazing, pasture degradation and illegal logging affect both nature and livelihoods. These discussions shaped her belief in the role of art in communicating environmental change. “I think that art has the ability to cause positive change and can help to solve existing social, political and ecological issues,” she explained. “Art can raise awareness and can direct attention towards the problems to the people who are responsible and in charge of solving them.”
Her residency culminated in a touring exhibition shown in Chachuna and later in cities across Georgia. Through images, sound and video, the exhibition introduced the Iori River Valley to a wider audience, revealing its beauty as well as the challenges it faces. It highlighted issues such as pasture degradation, illegal firewood harvesting and the importance of restoring the gallery forest that runs along the river.
Visit the project page to learn more about the Iori River Valley.
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