Contused Space
Armenia
2022
Sunday 27 September 2020. The Armenian-Azerbaijani war broke out. It lasted 44 days. A tripartite agreement put an end to it on 9 November. Life resembled a dismantled reality.
In this series, Vaghinak Ghazaryan focuses, through his documentary practice, on post-war traumas and the uncertainty that the residents of the former war zone live with today. In this context, contradictions embrace the missing present, creating canonical rituals to coexist with pain. Each family faces its anguish in its own way. Mothers bring to the tombs of their sons the sweets they used to like. There is always an extra plate for them at the dinner table. The distortion of space and time prevents the mourning of a bygone era.
Portfolio
About the artist
Vaghinak Ghazaryan was born in 1974 in Yerevan, Armenia. He graduated from the Academy of TV and Radio, and later from the National Association of Art Critics (AICA Armenia). His photograph Resting Soldier was awarded the third prize in the 2021 World Press photo contest “Contemporary Issues”, and third place in the Lens Culture photography contest “Home 21”.