14
Aug
Obituary: Badri Vadachkoria
On 14 August 2026, Badri Vadachkoria, aged 79, passed away following a brief illness. The BRAMS Institute announces with deep sadness the death of a distinguished member of our team – our talented colleague and dear friend, a man profoundly in love with Georgia – and extends its heartfelt condolences to his family. Alongside his immense, large-scale creative activity, he was a devoted supporter, admirer, steadfast ally, and guardian of all the Institute’s worthy undertakings from the very day BRAMS was founded.
A great photographer and activist – indeed, a world-class lensman and photojournalist – he was also a traveller, diplomat, and analyst. Above all, he was truly exceptional: loyal and steadfast in friendship, and, most remarkably, sincerely committed to the communities and ideals he served. He was an honorary citizen of Tbilisi and of his native town, Lanchkhuti, and the published author of twenty photo albums devoted to Tbilisi and Georgia. Through his impeccable photographic art – its distinctive, inimitable, and superb landscapes, portraits, and photo stories – he encouraged the world to fall in love with “a completely different Georgia”.
An accredited journalist across Central and Eastern European countries, a diplomat, and the author of successful photo exhibitions staged in dozens of foreign states, he received the Certificate of Gratitude from His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Patriarch of All Georgia, in recognition of his work with the Charity Foundation. He was a FINI laureate, holder of the honorary title granted by Tbilisi City Hall, “Carer of Tbilisi”, and recipient of the Alexander Roinashvili honorary diploma for his special contribution to the development of photographic art. He was also awarded the Golden Wing and numerous other honours and distinctions. He was a person marked by the “humility of the best of us”, and by a generous heart overflowing with love for people, for his homeland, for nature, for beauty, and for kindness. He will be greatly missed – not only by the city of Tbilisi and by all of Georgia, but also by the wider world.
“I want to make Georgians love their fellow Georgians and the whole of Georgia through my photographic art,” he used to say. In large measure, he succeeded in doing exactly that. Mr Badri Vadachkoria was the man who united the nation through his magnificent creativity, humanism, and patriotism. He carried within him the grief and pain of David Gareji, of Samachablo, and of Abkhazia – invoking them within a “heavenly Georgia”. He had many plans and goals. Until the very end of his life, he remained engaged in a patriotic project: the creation of the original collection entitled “Letters to Abkhazia”, which he will now be unable to see published as a book.
On 14 April 2025, during the celebrations of Mother Language Day in Georgia, he dedicated a unique photo album inspired by the themes found in the masterpieces of the Georgian poet Anna Kalandadze. With characteristic enthusiasm, he worked on creating similar albums to bring to life projects inspired by the works of other great Georgian poets and writers, including Galaktion Tabidze, Murman Lebanidze, Goderdzi Chokheli, and others. This brilliant initiative will not be completed without Badri Vadachkoria.
May the outstanding Badri Vadachkoria not feel the weight of his native Georgian soil upon his grave – a soil he walked over on foot again and again, camera in hand – turning it, through his vision and craft, into miraculous photographic masterpieces, and thereby bequeathing to future generations the “surprising feeling of homeland”.
Soon, the roads and paths, illuminated by the colours of autumn, will sadly miss the artist whom they had counted on to express his love through his lens. Those “fields, fields of Kartli”, the lanes of old Tbilisi, the hills and mountains of Svaneti and Mtatusheti, Lake Paravani, and the vistas of the Sabaduri forest will no longer be immortalised by Badri Vadachkoria’s camera; his lens will no longer travel to witness the beauty of Georgia. The footsteps of this great Tbilisian – preserved upon the cobblestones of the Sololaki area – will be shedding tears this autumn.
His blessed soul, raised to heaven, will surely continue to pray for better times for Georgia, for the unity and strengthening of his homeland. God bless his immortal soul.
Funeral services will be held on 16 and 17 August 2026 at the Tbilisi Vake Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, 33d Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue, from 5:00 p.m. The funeral procession will start at the same church on 18 August at 2:00 p.m. Burial will take place at Saburtalo cemetery.
