Just a slight glimpse over the recent history would ensure us once again, that the complete removal of material borders from the time-space context and our submergence into the globalised real-time informational feed, made it only clear, that in any part of the world we’re dealing with the same issues and humanistic crises; Unsurprisingly, the abuse of the power is among the most frequent ones; and the entitlement that richer countries demonstrate in expanding over the neighbouring territories, and intervening in geopolitics of the countries of their strategic interest. Uta Bekaia’s project  is dealing with these concerns, but instead of focusing on one specific historical – political event, he revives his own childhood memories to create an immersive installation, that expands over the entire space, and invites the viewer to travel in it, literally.

The source for the installation, “Here – So Far Away” is Bekaia’s memory from the early 80’s, when his family took a summer vacation to the beautiful city of “Akhali Athoni” in Abkhazia, (its name translates as New Athens, already speaks volumes about the beauty and strategic importance of the city),. For young Bekaia, the most exciting part of this journey was an upcoming tour to the famous caves of New Athens, widely renowned for its wealth of speleothems, stalactites, and stalagmites. Being familiar with its unearth beauty from a few old photographs, those caves were an absolute proof of the existence of the magical world for him. Unfortunately, due to the reasons unknown to Bekaia, the tour was canceled and the family returned to Tbilisi without visiting the caves. Soon after, the infamous conflict between Abkhazia and Georgia has emerged, and the place once associated with the beauty and mysticism became a symbol of the war, death, and displacement. Artist’s trip to Svanetia earlier this year – to the region of Georgia next  to Abkhazia – awoke those feelings from early childhood: places of desire and dreams, being that close, yet still unreachable and impossible to grasp.

Bekaia creates the space that at first can be perceived as a celebration of nature and its ever-evolving forces, but after its exploration one becomes aware of the conflicted historical development of our civilisation, an alarming reality we have to face every single day. Without giving out any references of historical time and place, Bekaia creates the setting where each viewer is given an opportunity to unfold their personal stories and memories.