Zaeta

Zaeta is the story of a group of refugees living in the remains of a world that ended decades ago. After the Abkhazian War in the early 1990s, several thousand Georgians were placed in a network of once extravagant hotels and sanatoriums built in Tskaltubo as a resort by Stalin. The town was once a famous resort but after the Soviet Union’s collapse, the hotels were stripped over their valuables and left in a state of disrepair. They were intended as temporary home but over the 30 years since this dystopian environment has become a permanent home to multiple generations of refugees. Although many have left during the intervening years, several hundred still remain. The architecture of the hotels is well documented. The story of the people in them has never been told. I travelled to Tskaltubo in 2019 and again in 2021 to rectify this. On my second visit many of refugees were moving into new accommodation built nearby. Others refused to leave. Support from the Gomma would allow me to return and tell the final part of their story: how have the refugees settled in this new accommodation, and what became of those who remained in the hotels.