I'm excited to present an exhibition of 59 of my photos from 2019 and 2020 displayed in 42 streetlamps dotted around Jingumae 2-chome.
“Walk With Me,” Tokyo, 2020.
Walking is a cure. I discovered this in my late teens. Whenever I felt sad, I'd go out and start walking without a destination or sense of time. I walked until it felt right. This became my secret weapon for my mental health. In a couple of years, prescription became a habit. I walked even when I felt good. It helped with my depression and enabled me to explore two of my favorite places.
I was taking photos from a very early age, but I never connected it with walking, as apparent as it seems. In 2017, I decided to carry a camera whenever I went out and started to document my walks. In some odd way, this has become a documentation of the state of my mind rather than the streets. I took photos of everything my brain would fixate on. My hands obediently followed the stream of thoughts in my head. I pushed the shutter release without any prejudice or analysis. As a photographer — this was new for me. New and liberating.
This exhibition is a projection of my mind while I walked out my sadness or hardships of life during 2019 and 2020. I will show you how my legs and mind wander through the streets of two cities I consider my home today — Tokyo and Tbilisi.
Come, walk with me.
