Empty fridges to highlight economic hardships in Tbilisi photo display

A photo exhibition in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi will highlight economic hardships facing households across the country in photographs featuring fridges in their apartments.

Presenting works by documentary photographer Givi Avaliani, the display Open Fridge will be hosted at the Open Society Georgia Foundation office in the capital on Thursday.

The exhibits selected for the event will show the products — or lack of them — in fridges found in apartments and houses of some of the economically underprivileged families in the country.

The exhibits will illustrate products or lack of thereof in fridges found in families across the country. Photo: Givi Avaliani.

Having a fridge does not necessarily mean many households have much to store in them. Often a fridge only acts as a legacy of the dignified past.”

Issues caused by lack of products leave scars on people’s daily lives, health and dignity while also reinforcing the hopelessness and fear of tomorrow”, said a summary of the display by the photographer.

Avaliani’s preview said his photographs would show fridges devoid of products or simply used as cupboards due to the families having had their access to electricity cut off after failing to pay bills.

The photographs will also feature brief description on relevant families and their living conditions.

Avaliani, who works as photo reporter for the news website Netgazeti, said the project had been conceived on the backdrop of a lack of attention to poverty and its underlying causes from authorities, the media and artists.

The aim of the project is to highlight the problem of poverty and unemployment by means of visuals arts in the media and society, as well as to initiate public, in-depth discussion”, noted the documentary photographer in his pitch for the initiative.

Beside exhibiting Avaliani’s visual works, the event will also feature a talk by Tbilisi-based constitutionalist Vakhushti Menabde.

The invited speaker will discuss with the audience the idea of introducing social rights in constitution for guaranteeing decent life standards for citizens.

The exhibition project was made possible via the Orbeliani Georgia online platform, which supports fundraising opportunity for social initiatives designed to "help people and promote change”.

The project is also supported by the Open Society Georgia Foundation and the Swedish government.