I am photographer of Armenian descent who was born in Beirut, Lebanon. I have a master’s in political science from the American University of Beirut and studied photography (evening classes) at the International Center of Photography in New York. I currently live and work in New York, N.Y.
My photography ranges in subject from flamenco dancers to fantastical animals, but my most intensive project has been with the Armenian community of Bourj Hammoud, and the publication of Portraits d’une survie: les Arméniens de Bourj Hammoud/Portraits of Survival: the Armenians of Bourj Hammoud (Somogy éditions d’art, 2014). This work has been the focus of solo exhibitions including: Survivants d’un génocide, les Arméniens de Bourj Hammoud (2007) at the French Institute, Barcelona; Armenians of Bourj Hammoud Today (2010) at the Centre Culturel Français, Beirut; and Les Arméniens de Beyrouth (2011) at Dupif Photo, Paris. My photographs of the Armenian Sanjak Camp in Beirut were published in Nouvelles d’Arménie Magazine (no. 131, June 2007).
Other exhibitions, publications and awards include: Duende: Visages et Voix du Flamenco (Archange Minotaure, 2007) with a text by Christian Delacampagne, with whom I also published Here Be Dragons: A Fantastic Bestiary (Princeton University Press, 2003), co-published in French as Animaux étranges et fabuleux, un bestiaire fantastique dans l’art (Citadelles-Mazenod, 2003). It was awarded the Cercle Montherlant-Académie des Beaux-Arts prize in 2003 and the Syndicat National des Antiquaires prize in 2004.
Her earlier series on flamenco was the subject of three solo exhibitions: Duende (2008) at the Maison Française at New York University and Flamencos at Fort de Bellegarde (2007) in Le Perthus and at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (2005) in Nîmes, France. The work was included in several group exhibitions at the Aperture Gallery, New York (2009); the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Sevilla (2010); and Audi Villa, Beirut (2010).
