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Ole Witt

Photographer

Ole Witt

A Rope Way Down

Chiatura is a Georgian mono city located 200 km in the west of Tbilisi. For mining the mountains – which are very rich on manganese more efficiently, Stalin decided to establish a unique ropeway system in the town. Originally there were 31 cable car systems which were used for transporting the material to the factories and also to improve the public transportation. Nowadays half of it still remains intact. During the soviet union this system worked out very well. But after the break down of the UdSSR the town did not get any financial support anymore, which resulted in economical stagnation. Since that Chiatura basically did not change. The cable cars are still the most decisive factor in terms of infrastructure and the mines are the main source of income. Scientists from Ukraine predicted that the manganese in the region will be gone within the next 16 years.

Ole Witt

Ole Witt realizes documentary long-term projects and works as a freelance photographer in Berlin. He studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover. In 2017, he received a scholarship to study "Photography Design" at the national Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India. His work has been published in magazines like Stern, Spiegel or Wired and has been exhibited at several international festivals. Ole Witt is among the finalists of different photography awards. With his work "Help Desk - Random Acts of Administration" he wins the Kolga Newcomer Award in 2018. Since 2019, in addition to his work as a photographer, he works as a freelance photo editor for various projects.