Centuries ago, people flocked to Tskaltubo, Georgia for its therapeutic radon hot springs. Today, the elegant structures of the former resort town are striated and overgrown. The elements have been weathering local facilities since the early 90s when state-run spas and sanatoriums were forced to close with the fall of the USSR. Shifting politics sent a wave of tension across formerly Soviet Republics, igniting northern Georgia’s civil war.

Hossein’s project, “Blackout,” is an environmental portrait of those who were displaced to Tskaltubo, a site that is an allegory of turbulent regional history. Some members of this community arrived there with only the clothes on their backs; some had lost everyone they knew. They have been going about life between crumbling walls and hollow salons where each errant shoe or dusty suitcase recalls the grandiosity and casualties of Soviet ideals.

Hossein Fardinfard (born in Iran in 1985) is an Amsterdam-based visual storyteller working across photography and videography. Hossein holds a B.S. in Cartography, a B.A. in Information Technology, and an M.A. in Geomorphology. Feeling increasingly drawn to examine the human spirit, he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, finishing his B.A. in Photography in 2022.

Hossein Fardinfard was one of Photolucida’s 2022 Critical Mass Top 50 artists. This image was selected to be included in PCNW’s 2023 exhibition, Imminent Existence, which showcased one piece of each of the Top 50 artists.