3 questions: levan kakabadze

Q: What’s the best part about shooting in Georgia?

A: One of the advantages of shooting in Georgia is that I know things very well here, especially in my city. I began photographing here and it has been a great experience to portray my personal view of Batumi. I always walk around with my camera and manage to collect single street shots. There is another couple of projects I want to do in Batumi, one of them includes shooting ex-musicians who are currently earning a living outside the world of art.

Q: And the worst part?

A: Sometimes you get very claustrophobic here because you see the same things over and over for years. Sometimes this monotony becomes romantic, especially on the seaside where you get to see the same people every day at the beach looking out at sea and searching for perspectives. 2009 was a very hard year for me,  I could almost not shoot at all. Still, I don’t know if this was due to Georgia´s crisis or to my own, artistic one. Plus photography industry is in shit here.

Q: What’s the deal with the giant horn you guys drink alcohol out of?

A: The giant horn is a cultural thing, when you see a bunch of people drinking alcohol its usually wine from a horn. It is generally used to say special toasts on special days like weddings, birthdays, etc. It is very popular and you have to be really tough to handle such a large amount of wine. Skinny guys like me struggle to drink that much in one go.

Check out some of Levan’s work after the jump!

Every Wednesday we sit down (briefly) with a talented artist + ask them 3 questions.

If you’re an artist + you’d like to be grilled, email me at questions@hardfeelingsblog.com