OR EDU

"illegal but safe"
A year ago, before the war started, South Ossetia was asking its residents to turn in their weapons voluntarily. As a result, when Georgians attacked, many families had no means of self-protection. No weapons were given away from the armory. 
After the war another call went out  for citizens to turn in their arms, but this time  weapons are being hidden from the Federal Security Service in homes, backyards, etc.

'KARABAGH WAR: THEN AND NOW” is a three-chapter photo story I decided to shoot to enter into the psyche of those Armenians who had fought and got killed during the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict from 1991-1994, those who today are physically suffering from the consequences of the war and the children of those whose faces are immortalized on the tombstones that haunt you in the dark.

Gagik Harutunyan is forever 25, young and healthy, ready to defend his country. But Gagik is an art work today, frozen on a tombstone, life-sized and mystic. Gagik stand still with his rifle, buried but alive next to all the others with his same destiny. Shiraz Hakopyan, 44, was a sniper who had fought in many battles of that region. His constant smile hides the pain he suffers daily from his post-concussion migraines and the shrapnel fragments in his body. All five men I photographed with their x-rays enjoy their children today and the second chance God gave them. But not all children had the chance to know their fathers. Hovhannes was not even a year-old when his 27 year-old father got killed near the Shoushi Fort. Today, he studies at the Artsakh State University, in the Department of Economics and Law. Although only 18, he knows that his future will forever be on the land where his father left his traces. As a photographer, the process of bringing these children to the site where their fathers got killed, was quite an emotional. Life is continuing on this disputed region.

photostory by Karen Mirzoyan

Series called “My Roads”, photos shot from a car or a train during my road trips or train rides in Armenia and Turkey. I have intertwined my desire of shooting with long exposures and my interest in regards to Armenia’s and Turkey’s current relationship to create this very personal visual project. Roads usually have beginnings and ends but I have created circular movements with the roads that I shoot, spaces that constantly rotate and come to no conclusion, reflecting the everlasting, never-ending decision of Armenians and Turks and why and when they should finally open their border.

“Outsiders” refers to the people and also the country of Belarus which began to earn its reputation as Europe's last communist dictatorship in 1996, five years following the collapse of the Soviet Union..

Alexander Lukashenko has been the country's president since 1994. During his presidency, he has implemented Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of the economy, despite objections from Western governments.

Even though Belarus is geographically in Europe, the government’s policies have had an important impact on today’s society. Increase in alcohol drinking, subjective feeling of absence of life prospects, depressive environment and low level of culture have become the main causes of the increase of self-destruction, especially amongst the youth.

The suicide rate is high all over the world, but Belarus has got ahead of other countries.
It has reached the world’s highest suicide rate over the last ten years.

Дорогой Юрий
Один из моих проектов, которыми я занимаюсь эти 3 года - жизнь(ежедневная жизнь) в политических анклавах Кавказа таких как Абхазия, Осетия, Нагорный Карабах. 35 фотографий, которые я загрузил - это только выборка из истории о Карабахе 2009-2010 ;)
Нагорный Карабах, отсоединившаяся часть Кавказа, надеется присоединится к числу республик, которые добились признания. Таких как Косово, Абхазия и Южная Осетия.

Дорогой Юрий
Один из моих проектов, которыми я занимаюсь эти 3 года - жизнь(ежедневная жизнь) в политических анклавах Кавказа таких как Абхазия, Осетия, Нагорный Карабах. 35 фотографий, которые я загрузил - это только выборка из истории о Карабахе 2009-2010 ;)
Нагорный Карабах, отсоединившаяся часть Кавказа, надеется присоединится к числу республик, которые добились признания. Таких как Косово, Абхазия и Южная Осетия.