Beyond Sochi

Having lived in Tbilisi and photographed in the Caucasus on and off for twenty years, Thomas Dworzak did a number of trips across the border to the North Caucasus, Sochi and Abkhazia in the last two years. Commissioned by National Geographic, Dworzak wanted to get a sense of the bigger picture of the region before the Olympic Winter games. Along with writer William Dunbar, he decided to focus specifically on the forgotten Circassians, the Cossack revival, Putin, the Olympic build up, the Islamic insurgency in Kabardino-Balkaria as well as occupied Abkhazia. This collection of pictures and writing is a diary of sorts, as well as a scrapbook of Dworzak and Dunbar’s travels, beyond the few pictures that made it into the magazine. Included are a selection of iphone images and polaroid versions of photos taken on the National Geographic assignment. Beyond Sochi is published as a 1000 limited set of maps by edition Seriti in Paris, and Magnum Photos; there is an ebook edition.