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Siaruli, 2026
Carbon-based photographic print on paper, wooden frame
204 x 136 cm
Derived from the ancient tradition of transhumance, Siaruli (Georgian for “walking”) explores how seasonal movement, repetition, and physical exertion becomes a way of carrying memory, knowledge, and orientation. The work follows a distant flock of sheep gliding through the mountains of Tusheti, unfolding across sixteen panels that continuously shift between disappearance and return, stillness and motion, proximity and distance.
These prints have been developed in collaboration with Kees Brandenburg in his atelier Polychrome. Tusheti revealed itself to me as a magical and overwhelming place of dark, shimmering rock, freezing air, bright sunlight, and almost otherworldly silences devoid of people. I wanted to capture that experience by using a special photographic printing technique– ‘Zerochrome’ – which utilizes direct carbon pigments to add extra materiality, depth, and layering to an image. The process is characterized by a long, physical and slow creation, built up layer by layer with hand brushed strokes. It creates a beautiful tension between the unpolished movement of the brush and the sharpness and tonality of the photographic image. Reminding me of the long walks in the Georgian mountains.
/ The work is a continuation of the artistic research Walking as an Instrument I’ve started during my residency at Aqtushetii, for which I explored the cultural phenomenon of ‘transhumance’: the centuries-old seasonal migration of livestock and herders between high- and low-altitude areas. AqTushetii is located in Omalo, in the remote mountainous region of Tusheti National Park—a place where landscape, sun, light, clouds, and ritual are inextricably intertwined. In winter, Tusheti is almost completely cut off by snow. Permanent habitation at high altitudes is then impossible. Within this geographical and cultural context, I investigated how their sheep migration functions as carrier of knowledge, tradition, and collective memory shaping the landscape.
Supported by Mondriaan Fonds / Kees Brandenburg (Werkplaats Polychrome)
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