Armenia/Nagorno-Karabagh click on image for full size
Shepherd, Near Ashtarak, Armenia, 1996 Republic Square, Yerevan, Armenia, 1993 Refugees from Baku, Massis, Armenia, 1993 Soviet Statuary, Gumri, Armenia, 1995
My interest in photographing Armenia comes from my heritage. My grandfather, who was born in a part of Armenia that is now eastern Turkey, fled, with his family, before the Turkish massacres of 1915. According to my father, it was the lack of opportunity in that world that caused my grandfather to leave his homeland, but I believe it was also a matter of preservation and safety. Like so many who emigrated, the United States became his new home. Once he was here, he never looked back.
Refugees from Nagorno-Karabagh, Massis, Armenia, 1993 Field Workers, Near Oktomberian, Armenia, 1995 Haircut, Yerevan, Armenia, 1995 Graveyard, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1994
The Armenian genocide took place in 1915. One and a half million Armenian men, women, and children were systematically eliminated, their villages destroyed. Growing up, I heard the tales of the murdered, and of the courageous people who escaped by walking hundreds of miles to freedom. This was large-scale genocide, yet I never once heard about it or read about it in school.
Vendors in the shuga, Yerevan, Armenia, 1993 Scavenging, Spitak, Armenia, 1995 Winter, Yerevan, Armenia, 1994 Yerevan, Armenia, 1993
Today, more than ever, Armenia is at a geographic and historic crossroads. Eighty years after the genocide that left millions dead, Armenia is a free republic. Although conditions have improved in the past few years, the effects of 70 years of Soviet rule, widespread economic chaos, a devastating earthquake, and the political, ethnic, and religious tensions in Nagorno-Karabagh are still prevalent. Add to these conditions the Soviet influence on the Armenian landscape, and I knew I had to go to see for myself.
Orphanage for disabled children, Kharput, Armenia, 1993 Near Garni, Armenia, 1995 Orphan boys, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1994 Air attack on apartment building, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1994
My first journey was in April of 1993, immediately following a very severe winter. There was no heat or electricity, food was very difficult to locate, and the war in Karabagh was in full fury. People were burning anything - the trees from the city parks, even their own furniture - to stay warm. Because few people had work, individuals lined the streets selling their personal belongings to get enough money to feed their families. Armenia was a modern country under extraordinary stress. The years of Soviet rule and an economic blockade by neighboring countries left the Armenian people paralyzed, with no ability to develop their own solutions. One Armenian friend called it "a first world country rapidly becoming a third world country." Yerevan, the capital city, has fine colleges, a symphony, a ballet, and many museums; people there are as urbane as can be found anywhere. This was not the Armenia of my grandfather. Nor is it the Armenia of the Diasporan Armenian's "old country" - that place is imaginary now, located only in memory; it died with those millions in 1915.
Earthquake ruins, Gumri, Armenia, 1995 Scavenging, Yerevan, Armenia, 1995 Women and Children, Shushi, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1995 Beating a goat skin, Abaran, Armenia, 1996
Armenia today is a far different place than I first expected. Although I work as a photojournalist would, this is a very personal project. I am concerned with how this evolution translates into human terms, how all of this upheaval shows up in the life of a citizen. My work is about using the camera to locate and put a face on this experience and to deepen the understanding of the day-to-day reality of contemporary Armenians.

Michael Hintlian February 1998
Well at Shersheran, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1996 Shepherd, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1995 Fedayeen and child, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1995 Graveyard, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabagh, 1994

 

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