Stefan Applis – Svanetia between tradition and modernity

Svanetia, located in the Georgian part of the Caucasus, is known for its largely untouched mountain landscape and the special architecture of its mountain villages. That is why more than 150,000 people from all over the world are now attracted there every year. Tourism is massively changing the formerly isolated region, but life without tourism would hardly be possible there any more. Stefan Applis’ photographs accompany this change. They document the past as well as the present of the Caucasus region and show the changes in the area in close proximity to the people, whom the author and photographer got to know during several stays over seven years.

The photographic material originates from a geographic-ethnographic research project of the author in cooperation with, among others, Nino Tserediani, the former director of the Swanetian Museum of History and Ethnography. An illustrated book has been published on this project, in which the people of Swanetia are portrayed in sensitive texts based on interviews from the author’s research project.