Everything Ok not Ok
Gallery Melkweg Expo
Amsterdam
2020
Supported by AFK & Melkweg Expo
In Everything OK not OK, Pieter Numan constructs a dual inquiry that documents the lives of young people in Tbilisi, Georgia, while critically examining the interpretive frameworks through which such images are commonly viewed from a Western perspective. The series foregrounds the relational nature of looking: by observing others, viewers are prompted to reflect on their own social, cultural, and political contexts.
Numan his photographs his subjects within their everyday urban environments, dressed in casual streetwear. Visual markers such as dyed hair, tattoos, piercings, and cigarette smoking initially align these images with familiar representations of Western European youth culture. This apparent familiarity, however, obscures the specific socio-political conditions in which these young people exist. In Tbilisi, they constitute a countercultural community operating within a society profoundly shaped by its Soviet legacy and by the continued influence of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Within this context, atheism, queerness, and non-normative expressions of identity remain largely unacceptable to the conservative majority. The decaying concrete apartment blocks that recur throughout the series function as a central visual metaphor, reflecting the enduring authority of the Orthodox Church and its reliance on moral frameworks rooted in outdated social norms. These architectural remnants of a previous era signify not only material decline but also ideological stagnation, shaping the conditions under which progressive youth navigate public space. While such structures may appear foreign or distant to Western viewers, they represent the quotidian reality of life in Georgia.
The surrounding landscapes further extend this metaphorical framework. They evoke entrenched modes of thought and social organisation sustained in part by Russian political and cultural influence, which continue to exert pressure on progressive movements and dissenting identities. Architecture and landscape together articulate a visual vocabulary of inherited power structures that resist transformation and reproduce systems of exclusion.
Against this backdrop, the self-presentation of the young people portrayed emerges as a form of everyday resistance. Choices in appearance such as alternative hairstyles, piercings, and clothing operate as visible challenges too dominant norms and often result in persistent confrontation, harassment, or violence. In response, nightlife venues and underground club spaces function as temporary zones of relative autonomy, where inclusivity and collective expression are prioritised. Within the Georgian context, participation in rave culture assumes an explicitly political dimension.
By situating these individuals at the center of his photographic practice, Numan intervenes in prevailing visual narratives of Tbilisi that are typically shaped by tourism, fashion imagery, and external modes of representation. Everything OK not OK instead foregrounds lived experience, situating its subjects within familiar streetscapes, monuments, and domestic environments. The series thus documents a generation engaged in ongoing negotiations over identity, visibility, and belonging, while articulating aspirations for social conditions in which self-expression is no longer subject to sanction