HABIZHEN

 Photographer Sergey Rogov

Project, that was inspired by the events in Caucasian region during the Perestroika period. People with certain mindset, that was cultivated for years and different from what is familiar to us, were forced to meet with new reality.

This research is designed to look at the problem of assimilation from another angle. To identify distinctive characteristics of Caucasian people, with their genuine pride, prowess, respect and dignity, combining all of this with modern global culture.

Main aim is to revive a familiar emotion in a person, to submerge him in the atmosphere of duality, satire and grotesque, but to preserve the spirit of a mountain man.

The designer Lyalya Shatalo said: «I am from Tshinval. On the moment when I was born it was Georgia, now it is South Ossetia. My childhood was followed by the war for independence. Every summer I was there and every time I kept noticing slight changes in people. They were affected by the fight between two cognate nations, fear of losing home, all of that was combined with the collapse of Soviet Union and overall mood of obscurity in the post Soviet Union countries. Firstly, it was inspiring how people were perceiving new things, but still were preserving old traditions and mentality. This childhood memories formed the basis of my project. It is the story not about war, but about people who were protecting their mentality by the ages. »

Habizhen is translated as ‘ossetian pie’. It is very important part of the culture, and at the same time pie’s obsession in Ossetia is a bit amusing. For the person who do not know the language it is only beautiful word, but the translation is showing satirical component of the project.

Designer / Lyalya Shatalo

Style / Carolina Pavlovskaya

Photographer / Sergey Rogov

Models / Gosha & Vlad @georgduduchava