My name is Mariam Giunashvili, also known as Mzesu. I’m a 29-year-old self-taught photographer and mixologist from Tbilisi. My work is grounded in documentary photography with a multidisciplinary, experimental core. With a background in psychology and media studies, I approach storytelling through a deeply human lens—curious about people, identity, and the quiet truths of everyday life.
I was very young when my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Watching him slowly fade and transform left a deep, lasting mark on me. I started thinking a lot about memory, time, identity—and the fragility of it all. I don’t know if it was fear or empathy, or both, but that experience shaped the way I see the world. I began taking photos obsessively—as if they could hold onto moments for me, tell stories, in case one day I couldn’t remember them myself.
Later, working as a bartender in Tbilisi’s nightlife scene, I became drawn to people in moments of raw honesty and self-expression that became natural, even radical. That’s where my interest in documenting underexposed lives took root. I wanted to capture the spirit of a new Georgian generation reshaping culture from the inside out.
Since then, I’ve been honored to exhibit my work internationally and locally, participate in programs like Canon’s Visa Pour L’Image workshop, and receive awards and grants that supported my vision. In 2024, I was part of multiple group exhibitions and became a grantee of GCRT’s “Visual Storytelling For Change” and TPMM’s “Rivers Meet At The Sea” residency.
I use photography to preserve ephemeral truths—fragments of people, emotions, and fleeting days. Through it all, I remain grounded in the desire to remember, connect, and tell stories that might otherwise be forgotten.
Currently lives and works in: Tbilisi, Georgia
Practice: Photography
Areas of interest: Human behaviour, memory, rawness of life, emotions, interactions
Why are you a part of Magic Carpets: I was chosen to work with the Korean community in Wroclaw and I couldn’t be happier, because I really appreciate the work that has been done with the help of Magic Carpets and I’m excited to be part of this project.
Magic Carpets project
In search of an invisible (?) community
Past projects
Escape
Type: Documentary project
I’ve been documenting Tbilisi’s underground for the past 10 years. This project shows how kids born after the collapse of the Soviet Union try to navigate in their lives.
What inspires you as an artist? Human behaviour, simply the environments I’m in or people I meet. I get inspired by different kinds of human communication.
What do you think is the purpose of art? Sometimes it needs to make you aware and sometimes it must help you to get lost.
Contacts