“What Would People Say?” is the first part of my long-term project on women, sexuality and gender issues in the former Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union.

Four short films presented here are from the first part in that series completed in Georgia in 2010. It is a profile of several Georgian women and the particular challenges they face in Georgia's post-Soviet reality, where the modern way of life often clashes with long-standing, intrinsic traditions.

Title of the whole series comes from a story I did in Pankisi Gorge. Originally, I had intended to do a story about love, but while there, I was talking with a woman named Lia, who told me how the opinions of family and local society determine the choices Georgian women make in life. In many cases, this means independent decision making is inhibited since their roles have already been defined. The more traditional and tight-knit a place is, the less prospects there are for women to make their own decisions for themselves. Although my title was inspired by the comment Lia made, it reoccurred in the stories I did later, beyond Georgia.

Within this project, I  aim to present an overview on women's lives in the former Eastern Bloc, Russia and former Soviet Republics. My focus is on specific women’s issues unique or typical to a particular location.  On a broader plane, I attempt to fill the information vacuum regarding the status of women in those societies that were formed by 70 years of Communism and 20 years of independence.

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Georgian series was completed in 2010 with the support of an Open Society Institute (OSI) production grant. The exhibition was supported  by the Documentary Photography Project at OSI , Europe House in Georgia and the Polish Embassy in Tbilisi.