Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement

Title of Project: Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement

Project Period (duration): 2021-current

Principal Investigator (PI): Ariel Otruba, Non-Resident Research Fellow, VTIPG

Co-Investigators:

• Nino Dsotsenidze, Manager, Office of Institutional Compliance, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt  (Cal Poly Humboldt)
• Mariam Orjonikidze, Head of the International Relations Office at European University
•  Natia Kekenadze, PhD candidate in Urban Studies, Tbilisi State University

Book Group:

• Ariel Otruba
• Max Stephenson, Director, VTIPG
• Yannis Stivachtis, Director, Center for European and Transatlantic Studies, Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs
• Katrina Powell, Alumni Distinguished Professor, English, and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies
• Lara Nagle, Community-Based Research Manager, VTIPG
• Amin Farzaneh, PhD student, Planning, Governance, Globalization, Virginia Tech

Description of Project and/or Partnership:

Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement is the name of a traveling Photovoice exhibition based on a multi-year, feminist visual ethnography project led by Ariel Otruba. The research project examines the emotional impact of abject housing infrastructure conditions on internally displaced persons (IDPs) forced to flee the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war. The study involved over thirty IDP participants, who lived in decaying state-owned collective centers in the former Soviet balneological spa resort of Tskaltubo, Republic of Georgia, for three decades. Ten of the research subjects from the study participated in Photovoice, which is an arts-based participatory method that involves marginalized groups in the research process through photography. During a period of unprecedented numbers of forcibly displaced people worldwide, this project aims to bring visibility to the slow violence of urban displacement and war's capacity to harm over an elongated time horizon. In doing so, it seeks to encourage a critical reimagining of more caring and just spatial futures for forcibly displaced populations in Georgia and beyond.

Key Outcomes:

• Publication of Violent Infrastructures Book
• Facilitation of three Photovoice methodology workshops and one research ethics workshop.
• Curation and delivery of at least twelve short- and long-term exhibits and related public lectures.

“Many of the participants in the Violent Infrastructure project reported that they had never before told the story of their displacement, much less been invited to participate in decisions about housing policy. Through a collaborative, community-based, and deeply humanistic approach, Violent Infrastructure exemplifies core dimensions of IPG's mission by centering the dignity, agency, and creativity of Georgians who lived in protracted displacement for more than three decades. The resulting exhibition and edited volume respond to our participants' sense of invisibility by generating actionable, policy-relevant knowledge grounded in participants' lived experiences, in the hope of inspiring more just housing solutions.” – Ariel Otruba

Related Scholarship and Publications:

Ariel Otruba, Max Stephenson Jr., Yannis Stivachtis, and Nino Dzotsenidze, Eds. Violent Infrastructure: Protracted Displacement and Housing Injustice in Tskaltubo, Georgia. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Publishing, 2025.

Otruba, A., Farzaneh, A., Firouzi, A., Alhadyan, S., & Naghibizadeh, S. (2026, November). Photovoice for Civic Engagement. 2026 Annual Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Associations (ARNOVA), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. https://www.arnova.org/

Otruba, A. (2026, March 27-29). Emotional Ecologies of Violent Infrastructure in Georgia's Abandoned Soviet Spas [Plenary]. Midwest Slavic Conference, Columbus, OH. https://slaviccenter.osu.edu/about/conferences/midwest-slavic

Project Materials:

Events:

• “Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement in Georgia’s Abandoned Soviet Spas” exhibition and presentation on April 3 in Kirby Hall at Lafayette College.
• “Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement” exhibition and curatorial lecture hosted by Arcadia Exhibitions, in cooperation with the Landman Library and the Department of Historical and Political Studies at Arcadia University from March 25 – May 5, 2024.
• "Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement" hosted by the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University on February 29, 2024, at the King Library.
• Pop up exhibition at the 55th Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Association (ASEEES) Annual Convention on November 30-December 3, 2023, in Philadelphia, PA, at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown. Roundtable discussant about the exhibition for “Teaching the South Caucasus: Decolonizing General Education.”
• “Violent Infrastructures: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement in Georgia” lecture and pop-up exhibition at the Rutgers University Department of Geography Speaker Series on October 27, 2023.
• American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC) two-part Virtual Workshop: “Capturing the South Caucasus with Photovoice” on Thursday, September 7, 2023: 18:00-20:30 GET and Thursday, September 14, 2023: 18:00-20:30 GET.
• “Ariel Otruba On “Careless Infrastructures of Resettlement” for the CRRC, ARISC and American Councils’ Tbilisi Works-in-Progress Series on June 28, 2023, at 6:30 PM.
• “Empowering Research Subjects through Photovoice in the South Caucasus, accompanied by photo exhibition” at the 9th Annual The Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Conference, New Frontiers: The South Caucasus Amidst New Challenges June 22-23, 2023, Hotel Hilton Garden Inn Tbilisi.
• “Dr. Otruba brings Photovoice exhibit to Virginia Tech” published on October 27, 2023.
• Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement Exhibit Opening Talk at Virginia Tech on October 4, 2023, at 6:00 PM at the Athenaeum Classroom in the Newman Library.
• Photovoice Workshop at Virginia Tech on October 5, 2023, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. at the Graduate Life Center, Room F at Virginia Tech University.
• Episode titled, “Ariel Otruba: Using Photovoice To Grapple With Displacement” on Trustees Without Borders (TWB), a podcast series produced by the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (IPG) and the Community Change Collaborative (CCC).
• Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement Creative Geography Exhibition at Moravian University. Photovoice exhibition from December 1 – 16, 2022 at the HUB Eiffe Gallery, opening night with artist/scholar Ariel Otruba on December 1, 2022, and “Violent Infrastructure” Immersive Installation from December 1 – 4, 2022 in the Arena Theatre. Video walkthrough of the immersive installation available on YouTube.
• “Tskaltubo Photovoice Project” Pop-Up Exhibitions at Mziuri Park in Tbilisi from 7:00-10:00 PM GET on July 1-3, 2022, and Batumi Boulevard, Batumi from 5:00-8:00 PM GET on July 29-31, 2023.
• “Infrastructures Of Care and The Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Tskaltubo” for the CRRC, ARISC and American Councils’ Virtual Works-in-Progress Series on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at 6:30 GET.
• “A Political Ecology of Emotion and Displacement in Georgia’s Abandoned Soviet Spas” for the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC) online event series on July 23, 2021, at 10:00 AM EDT. 
• Presentation for the panel, “Anxious Post-Socialist Political Ecologies,” at the Virtual Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Association (ASEEES) Annual Convention on Saturday, November 14, 2020 at 8:00 AM. 
• The traveling photovoice exhibition, Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement, was on display at the Stichweh Gallery at Otterbein University, Westerville, OH from March 31 - April 4, 2025.