Living in Gyumri (formerly Leninakan), Armenia — a city that was almost completely destroyed in 1988 by one of the most powerful earthquakes of the 20th century — I was profoundly shaken not only by living amid the scars of that time but also by the stories I heard from local residents who had lived through those events. Almost every resident of the city lost a loved one. This, in turn, profoundly impacted their personal perception of reality and their subsequent interactions with the world.

These situations inspired me to create a series of works dedicated to the people who perished or those who were profoundly affected by this tragedy. I met and interviewed local residents, asking them to tell me about relatives or close friends who had fallen victim to the earthquake. I then asked them for a photograph of their loved one, scanned it, and creatively reinterpreted it.

I subsequently superimposed the reformatted photographs onto a historical map of Gyumri, thereby capturing the geographic location of the events.

This process combines the physical location of the place with the photographic memory of the trauma that has been imprinted on several generations of the city’s residents and continues to shape the inner world of those who live there to this day.

2015

4.5m by 4m

Oil, canvas