mOTHER Armenia (photo exhibit)

I like the way they put it: mOTHER Armenia. Great to see incredibly talented and free-minded group of Armenian women photographers and photojournalists presenting their works in Yerevan's centre for contemporary arts - NPAK.

Including in the exhibit are the works by my favourite Nazik Armenakyan, from her "Transgenders in Armenia" photo-project, documenting the lives of transgender or transvestite sex workers.

Transgenders are a big part of my project about LGBT people in Armenia. Photographing transgender sex workers was a shock at first— unreal or, more accurately, surreal. I was shaken: they weren’t just a found object in photographic terms. It was a phenomenon that contradicted and negated all my previously held notions of man and woman.

[Read the full interview with Nazik Armenakyan here: http://www.fotoevidence.com/nazik-armenakian]

Also presented is Anush Babjanyan with her "special women" / 'inlandish' project.

“I am a woman who is not accepted by the society,” out of all the women I photographed, none would say this or anything similar. Yet every time any of them walks along the street people look with amazement. And I would look at them just as everyone else. There was strange interest and respect I felt towards them, so I decided to get to know them closer, talk to them, and take their photo. (photo story)

Below is a video report from the exhibit by RFE/RL Armenia service (AM):

Annual group exhibit at NPAK to focus on identity and social structure

New opening at NPAK (Armenian Centre for Contemporary Experimental Art) - Annual Group Exhibition 2 September - 30 October 2010 curated by Sonia Balassanian.

"MULTI-LAYERED IDENTITY AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE"

Every individual has open and hidden layers of identity. Some are hidden and closed by personal choice, some because of social taboos, and others forced by socio-political pressures.

Closeness and openness of inner layers of identity is a matter of individual choice. There are some who have the courage and audacity of expressing a view, position or posture — on sexual orientation, political position, interpretation of historic events—which is either unacceptable or condemnable by the general public. But none-the-less they have the courage of expressing them.

Most of the artists usually express their personal and private feelings through metaphorical symbols. A situation, which enriches the work creates opportunity for interpretations, meditations and dialogue. There are also artists who are open and bold, which is also an acceptable mode of expression...

You may access this exhibit's brochure here

Undercurrent Shifts: modern art exhibition in Yerevan's NPAK

The Undercurrent Shifts project is currently on display at the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (NPAK) till 4 October 2008. (see also - "Armenia 2008")

Hamlet Hovsepyan: Pink Illusion

Sarkis Hovhannisian.

Sonia Balassanyan: Flock

Anushavan Hovakimyan: Current

Yerevan Experimental Theatre (NPAK): Slaughterhouse (play)

Sounds interesting.

*via Facebook

Date: Thursday, April 17, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 10:40pm
Location: Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (NPAK)
Street: Pavstos Buizand Blvd., 1/3
City: Yerevan, Armenia

Description:

A human is sentenced to loneliness. He has failed to love, to be loved. He has been alienated from surrounding world, has been put in opposition with fake and dishonest relations, and theatricised behaviorism. He is lonely. “Poor white craw”. This woman, with her torturous monologue unmasks human evil. But nobody needs it. She is target of society repentance. The sacrifice offered at the slaughterhouse.