Rafal Milach The colourful wall of a children’s camp. Lazika is a ‘city-cum-concept’ conceived by Mikheil Saakashvili. The original plan provided for the construction of a large, modern resort and port on the B
(...) lack Sea. To date, all that has been built is the town hall, an approach road and a holiday camp for children and young people. Construction work was stopped in 2012. The camp is situated a few hundred metres from the border with Abkhazia and a modern local legend has it that it was intended minimise the chance of shots or an attack from the neighbouring country, which is supported by Russia. The Georgian-Abkhaz War ended more than twenty years ago, but tensions between the two states still run high.
In 2013, president Mikheil Saakashvili was ousted and all his personal projects of accelerated change in Georgia were put on hold. Facade-like modernization covered the greatest number of political prisoners in entire post-soviet region. The series of images traces the abandoned dream of a man with almost unlimited power in his country. Lazika, Georgia. 2013. © Rafal Milach | Magnum Photos
