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Armenia

Armenia

11 May - 24 July 2016, Vernissage 10 June 2016 at 7pm

The exhibition consists of 43 photographs taken during a week-long tour of Armenia, which was undertaken in October 2015 by five photographers - Soňa Chlumecká, Miroslav Franta, Roman Šudoma, Michal Blažek and the famous photographer Garik Avanesian, a native Armenian who has been living permanently in Prague since 1995. He often takes on photographic expeditions to interesting countries with his friends.   


The images show the particular way of life of the people in Armenia and its landscape. They capture the local people at work and in their homes, with domestic animals, such as shepherds with their flock; children at school and at play outdoors, but also the landscape and the numerous monasteries that served as centres of education and culture, since Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as the state religion.       


The exhibition authors published a catalogue in 2015 which contains both photos and accompanying text, in which they point out that Armenia is still among the poorest countries of the Southern Caucasus. But at the same time they emphasize the typical and unique hospitality of the local people, which they had the opportunity to experience while travelling in Armenia.  

The vernissage took place as one of the events of the Museum Night 2016 at the Museum of Photography and Modern Visual Media.     

 

"It has been almost ten years since I first took a group of photographers to Armenia. A lot has changed not only in Armenia but also in my own perception of this country. Since that time nearly half the population has left Armenia but the lives of the local people has not changed much. Every year I enjoy visiting some of the villages however just as happily I like discovering new places and meeting new people.

During a walk in one of the villages in a beautiful valley I suddenly heard: "Gaaarik, Gaaarik!"When we turned to find out who's calling me, we saw a shepherd on a hill, sitting on a donkey, who waved at us and urged us to come up to him. After a while he left us alone to look after his sheep and donkey then ran home to fetch some refreshments - we enjoyed his cheeses and vegetables and of course, drank the local schnapps. In the end nearly everyone tried to master the donkey. This meeting was for us a wonderful experience.

I like coming back to Armenia for such moments and meeting the heroes of my pictures fills me with joy. "

Excerpts taken from the catalogue Armenia - S. Chlumecká, M. Franta, G. Avanesian, R. Šudoma, M. Blažek, Prague 2015