A sledgehammer swooshes down and crushes old concrete, revealing rusty reinforcement bars. One more swing and the bar loosens enough to remove it from what once used to be part of a factory wall.
Madonna Naroushvili drives a city bus on one of the busiest streets of Tbilisi. One of the very few female bus drivers in Georgia, Naroushvili says she is usually assigned to the most difficult routes because she is "never too lazy to steer the wheel hard, as opposed to many other drivers."
But the biggest challenge, she says, comes from her passengers. Many of them, after finding out that the bus is driven by a woman, openly express their surprise.
"Some of them cheer me up by saying that it's so great that a woman is at man's job," Naroushvili says. "Some of them are surprised that I can steer the wheel so confidently. Sometimes I get insults too. Regardless the reaction, I learned to stay calm, friendly, and distant at the same time."
Starting from her childhood Naroushvili was passionate about public transportation. Since the age of 22 she worked as a tram conductor, until the dissolution of the city tram system at the end of 1990s. Afterwards she worked as a private taxi driver for a few years before finally switching to a bus.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Father Tigran Mkhitaryan, who hails from the Georgian city of Akhalkalaki, holds a mass baptism for about 40 people on Feb. 12 in the village of Kartsakhi, located a few kilometers away from the Georgian-Turkish border and populated mostly by ethnic Armenians.
Roughly 200 families live in Kartsakhi, where the 18th-Century church lacks its own priest. Therefore residents use any opportunity to attend religious ceremonies during the rare visits by a city priest.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
The Armenians of Akhalkalaki, Georgia, celebrate Trndez, the traditional festival of newlyweds, on February 13. A local priest conducts a religious service to bless the newlyweds and presents each couple with a copy of the Bible. Following sunset, a bonfire is lit and the couples jump over it holding hands.
In Akhalkalaki, where unemployment runs higher than the Georgian national average, winter has been a traditional wedding time following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In spring most of male population leaves Georgia to look for work abroad, mostly in Russia and Armenia, and then returns home in late fall.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Every morning, a soup kitchen in Tbilisi's small southeastern suburban district fills up with people holding white canes in one hand and canvas bags in the other. After waiting in the line for a few minutes, they leave the canteen carrying a loaf of bread and a plastic container full of hot soup.
A goat dragging a snapped rope around its neck calmly hoofs it over a crosswalk in a Tbilisi suburb on January 10. Once common during the economic breakdown of the 1990s, some Tbilisi residents still keep domestic animals in the city.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Hunters paddle out for an evening pursuit of prey as smoke rises over Paliastomi Lake near Poti, Georgia, in late December. The Paliastomi lake marshes, which are part of the Kolkheti National Park, are often set on fire by hunters and cattle herders, who clear the area for easier fowling and cow grazing. Violation of national park regulations – quite common in Georgia’s protected areas – are often due to poor management.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Roman Glonti, a bathhouse attendant in Tbilisi baths, was born to an Armenian father and a Georgian-Iranian mother. The 42-year-old, who uses his mother's last name, says the sulfur baths are the ultimate symbol for Tbilisi's multi-ethnic Abanotubani district.
"There can be no quarrel between us, as the sulfur always soothes your mood," Glonti says jokingly.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
