TITLE: Things I Stole

These photos are from my ongoing project "Things I stole", dedicated to a dating strategy commonly known as "ghosting". Ghosting is generally defined as breaking up with someone by ignoring this person, avoiding any kind of contact in real life. Many people around me have been on the receiving end of this practice, in some cases more than once.

"Ghosting" as a term is rapidly becoming a staple of dating related vocabulary, as the phenomenon is becoming increasingly common among users of online dating sites and applications. It has become, so to say, a new trend in online dating.

Because of the specific character of the virtual world, we sometimes forget that behind all those profiles there are real people, with real feelings and no "delete" button. One doesn’t need to be a heartless person to be a “ghoster”. The virtual environment makes it so easy, that sometimes we just do it.

With this project I wanted to illustrate the difference in character between the physical and the virtual space, as well as how and where the two meet. I paired the photos with different usernames, which, although fictional, I believe are representative of those commonly used in online dating spaces. In the photos I captured people naked, which to me represents the most vulnerable, real and delicate state of being. Through this combination I tried to show how physical reality can disappear into virtual reality and vice versa, how subtle and delicate the act of moving between the real and the virtual world can be, what radically divergent appearances one and the same person can take on in physical and virtual spaces.

AUTHOR: Mano Svanidze (Georgia)

Mano Svanidze (b. 1992) is a Georgian photographer currently based in Tbilisi. She graduated from Tbilisi State University, faculty of Economics and Business with a BA in Marketing. She also studied composition and music for 10 years. In 2009 she discovered her interest in photography. Mano is a member and co-founder of Georgian Photo Collective - 90’x Collective. Her work has been exhibited in several countries such as Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Italy. Selected magazines and features include L’Œil de la Photographie, Dodho magazine, Post Pravda magazine, F-stop magazine, Positive magazine, Ours photo magazine, Format magazine, Indigo magazine, Analog magazine, Bleek magazine, Photoessay magazine, Red moon magazine, Doka photography, House of Girls, Chai Khana, FinestrAperta, Kiosk der demokratie, The kickplate project, SORA magazine. Currently she works as a freelance photojournalist at media platform Chai Khana.