In a way I can only partially explain, this photo series reminds me of home. I’m not from the Caucasus and I never owned a sheep in my life, but this is more than just facts, it’s more about a feeling. The nature, the snow, the sheep all remind me of home because my home is a little bit like that too, and I have seen the men who live with sheep since I was small. I’ve seen the mud too, and the difficult life. And now I miss seeing it again.

Photographer Dmitri Gomberg took these photos in the Republic of Georgia, close to the Chechen border, over a period of 5 years. ‘This is a story about Tusheti – mountain region in the Republic of Georgia. Tusheti lies near the Chechen border and it is culturally closer to Chechen than to Georgians. The story is about shepherds who travel every summer to their ancestors’ land Tusheti and than return to spend the winter at the bottom of the mountain. Twice a year they travel with their sheep through the pass in the Caucasus which is 3,000 meters high‘ he says in his artist statement.

The people photographed come from a long line of shepherds. They have been making cheese since before Christ, and their life is harsh. But beautiful.

There’s more on CultureLens, here.