Mery Agakhanyan documented life in small villages throughout Armenia. Due to the absence of job opportunities, low wages, lack of social support, and the inability to farm their lands due to harvest losses, high interest rates on farm loans, or lack of agricultural equipment, many village residents have migrated to Russia to work as laborers and construction workers. Agakhanyan photographed portraits of those—often the elderly, women, and children—who are left behind, as well as domestic life and local customs and rituals, in order to capture not only the daily life, but also the unique mood and culture, of these villages.
Hear from Agakhanyan as she talks about her project and reflects on her experiences.
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Mery Agakhanyan was born in 1978 in a small village in Armenia. She graduated from Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory in 2005 with a degree in musicology. Prior to earning her musicology degree, she took courses in metaphysics and philosophy at Yerevan State Humanitarian College. Agakhanyan currently resides in Yerevan and teaches at the Byurakn Educational Complex where she has developed her own curriculum based on the synergy of sound, color, and movement. She also writes and publishes children books.