Daro Sulakauri

Daro Sulakauri is a photojournalist and visual artist whose work captures the complex social and political realities of the Caucasus region. A graduate of the International Center of Photography in New York, where she studied on the John & Marie Phillips Scholarship and the ICP Director’s Fund, she gained early recognition for her documentation of Chechen refugees in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, earning the Young Photographers in the Caucasus Award from Magnum Photos.

Her stories focus on taboo and underreported social and human rights issues, including the lives of mineworkers, ethnic minorities, Georgia’s ongoing stolen babies investigation, which has documented illegal adoption schemes, and early marriages in Georgia, which brought the issue into public consciousness and contributed to legal reform, raising the country’s legal marriage age.

She was named one of LensCulture’s “21 Great Female Photographers”, listed among PDN’s 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch, and selected for 30 Under 30 Women Photographers. She received first prize from the Human Rights House Foundation in London. She is also an alumna of the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.

Her work appears in The New York Times, Reuters, National Geographic, and Stern Crime, among others. She has earned the Reuters Photojournalism Grant and became a Canon Ambassador. In 2022, Daro became a Catchlight Global Fellow. She has also received the LensCulture Visual Storytelling Award, EU Prize for Journalism, François Demulder Grant, and was on the team for the Hansel Mieth Prize (Zeit Magazine, 2023). In 2024, she became the first Georgian TED Fellow, joining a global network of changemakers. Her latest achievement in 2026 Alexia Foundation Award of Excellence recipient.

Sulakauri is the screenwriter and protagonist of the documentary film ‘Double Aliens', directed by Ugis Olte. She is the creator of shifting-borders.com, a trilingual multimedia platform documenting life along South Ossetia’s occupation line, and the author of two handmade books exploring pandemic and rave culture.

Beyond photography, Daro is a two-time Georgian Championship gold medalist and Tbilisi State Champion in pistol shooting, who previously represented Georgia at World Cups and European Cups.

Artist Statement

I am a photojournalist and visual artist working on long-term investigations that expose hidden systems of power and the human consequences they leave behind. My work often begins where official narratives fall apart—through testimonies, gaps, and unresolved histories. I work closely with people who have lived through these zxperiences, building projects that unfold over time and resist easy conclusions. Through photography, I aim not only to document but to challenge what is accepted as truth and to create space for voices that have been ignored or suppressed.

Selected Exhibitions

2026 Photo Vogue Festival, Italy, Milan.

2024 Her Art in Action, Gazelli Art House. Baku, Azerbaijan.

2023 On the Edge Festival, Estonia.

2023 “Bushes Sway, Some Things get lost”, collaborative exhibition w/local artist. Tbilisi Kolga Photo Festival. Tbilisi, Georgia.

2021 Solo Exhibition/Installation, Book object presentation “I was dreaming when I wrote this”. TBC Concept Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia

2020 Solo Exhibition of “The Black Gold” project in Madonna della Vittoria,

2018 Solo Exhibition/Installation, Lechaki”, Erti Gallery. Tbilisi, Georgia.

2018 Solo Exhibition, “Changing Horizons”, Tbilisi Kolga Photo Festival.

2022 The Change We Want to See, Paris Photo, Catchlight Global fellow, w/Dysturb

2022 Biennale of Female Photography, Italy, Manua.

2018 Exhibition at Visa Pour L’image, “The Women’s Eye”, Perpignan, France.

2018 Group Exhibition, “Photographic Art from Georgia”, Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany.

2017 Group Exhibition in New York, for Women's Issues. U.S.A.

2015 Solo Exhibition "Double Aliens". Riga, Latvia.

2015 Emerging exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography, L.A. U.S.A.

2012 Group Exhibition, Georgian Culture Gallery. Tbilisi, Georgia.

2011 PDN Emerging, Ring Cube Gallery. Tokyo, Japan.

2011 L.A.F. Project, NAPA Gallery. Prague. Czech Republic.

2008 Finalists exhibition for Photo Week DC. Washington D.C. U.S.A.

2006 ICP, School of International Center of Photography Gallery. New York, U.S.A.

2006 ‘Circle of Arts’ at the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church. New York City, U.S.A.