Tbilisi exhibition: Images of WW I by Georgia’s first female photographer

Have you ever seen images of the Caucasian Front during World War I?

Now, 100 years later, photographs showing the struggles of war are being displayed in a poignant exhibition in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi through the eyes of a brave Georgian woman who documented all aspects of the war.

The exhibition features photos by Nino Jorjadze, Georgia's first female photographer who volunteered for the Red Cross as a doctor’s assistant, of the Caucasian Front from 1914-1918. Using her camera she became the first to document important events of the war from a Georgian perspective.

Nino Jorjadze, Georgia's first female photographer who volunteered for the Red Cross as a doctor’s assistant, of the Caucasian Front between 1914-1918.

From behind her lens she witnessed the horrors of war as well as camaraderie of the troops involved.

The Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery of the Georgian National Museum is hosting a public exhibition The Caucasus Front Through Nino Jorjadze's Camera Lens dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of WW I.

For the first time people in Tbilisi will have the opportunity to see unique and valuable material dating back to WW I, including personal items, letters, documents, certificates, diaries and photos from family archives that have been restored by the Museum.

Doctor Kovalevski before a surgery operation. Photo by Nino Jorjadze.

"The archive displays the history of a Georgian military aristocrat who was on military service in the Russian Empire and creates a photo chronicle of the Caucasian Front during the First World War that is important on historical and ethnographic, social and cultural grounds,” said the Museum’s director general Davit Lortkipanidze.

He said employees of the Dmitry Ermakov photo archive department of the Georgian National Museum carried out conservation work on the photo collection while well-known Georgian writer Aka Morchiladze worked on the Georgian translation of the diaries written in Russian.

The Declaration of the Temporary Government, 1921. Photo by Nino Jorjadze.

"It is gratifying that this unique archive has gained interest abroad and the exhibition already has been invited to Switzerland,” he said.

Included in the exhibition is the book WW I in the Eyes of a Georgian Woman, which contains Jorjadze's Caucasian Front photo series and a variety of extracts from her personal diary. Publishing of the manuscript was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia and the Swiss Cooperation Office.

The exhibition will continue until August 26, 2015.