Mano Svanidze (1992) is a Georgian photographer currently based in Tbilisi. She graduated from Tbilisi State University, faculty of Economics and Business with a BA in Marketing. She also studied composition and music for 10 years. In 2009 she discovered her interest in photography. Mano is a member and co-founder of 90’x collective. Her work has been exhibited in several countries such as Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Italy. Currently she works as a freelance photojournalist at media platform Chai Khana.
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“These photos are from my ongoing project “Things I stole”, dedicated to a painful new dating strategy commonly known as “ghosting”. Ghosting is generally defined as breaking up with someone by ignoring this person, avoiding any kind of contact in real life. It means that someone suddenly disappears from another person’s life without any explanation; no contact is made at all, calls or messages are ignored, in short, no sign of life is given. It doesn’t only happen after meeting in person, it can happen at any stage of the dating process, even after exchanging only a few messages. Many people around me have been on the receiving end of this practice, in some cases more than once.”
“Ghosting” as a term is rapidly becoming a staple of dating related vocabulary, as the phenomenon is becoming increasingly common among users of online dating sites and applications. It has become, so to say, a new trend in online dating.”
“Because of the specific character of the virtual world, we sometimes forget that behind all those profiles there are real people, with real feelings and no “delete” button. One doesn’t need to be a heartless person to be a “ghoster”. The virtual environment makes it so easy, that sometimes we just do it.
With this project I wanted to illustrate the difference in character between the physical and the virtual space, as well as how and where the two meet. I paired the photos with different usernames, which, although fictional, I believe are representative of those commonly used in online dating spaces. In the photos I captured people naked, which to me represents the most vulnerable, real and delicate state of being. Through this combination I tried to show how physical reality can disappear into virtual reality and vice versa, how subtle and delicate the act of moving between the real and the virtual world can be, what radically divergent appearances one and the same person can take on in physical and virtual spaces.”
Tell us about the art scene in Georgia.
Art scene in Georgia is becoming very striking lately. Number of young talented artists grow in all kind of creative fields. and less and less people percept art as a losers “thing”.
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What do you see as your biggest challenge?
For me the biggest challenge is to live long enough to create something that matters. almost a year ago a car hit me while I was walking on the sidewalk. Spending few month in a bed made me realized how short life really is and how unpredictable is when it’s going to end.
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What is 90’x collective?
90’x collective is a photo collective of Georgian photographers who were born in 90’s, after the collapse of USSR. We are a photography cooperative of children of the 90’s, the generation that grew up in the wake of the Soviet collapse, holdovers you can find in our photography. Our generation is distinguished by the strong belonging to this chaotic period. We share the same struggles, pain, love, and we are all thirsty for changes. The members of 90’x collective are:
• Lasha Tsertsvadze
• Mano Svanidze
• Nino Ana Samkharadze
• Thoma Sukhashvili
• Giorgi Rodionov
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About beauty
“About Beauty” is her on-going photo project about the beautiful women around me, who believe that they aren’t beautiful.
“We are constantly bombarded by media what we should feel and look like. I think everybody deserved to feel good about their body and society we live in makes it impossible even for those who fit in these crazy standards. This project is my reaction on this bullshit campaigns makes everyone fell ugly and vulnerable.”
If you want to see more of her work 👇✨
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