Diana Markosian’s “1915” Photo Exhibition at Venice Arts and Month of Photography LA

MARINA DEL REY — Holding a cane in his right hand, Movses Haneshyan, 105, slowly approaches a life-size landscape. He pauses, looks at the image, and begins to sing, “My home… My Armenia.” It’s the first time Movses is seeing his home in 98 years.

A century ago, the Ottomans initiated a policy of deportations, mass murder and rape to destroy the Armenian presence in the Ottoman Empire. By the war’s end, more than a million people, from what is now modern-day Turkey, were eliminated. It was one of first genocides of the 20th century, one that Turkish authorities deny to this day. Movses and his father survived.

Venice Arts and Month of Photography LA (MOPLA) are pleased to present “1915,” the compelling work of photographer Diana Markosian that documents Movses, and other survivors, as they reconnect with their lost homeland: what they had, what they lost, and what they have found again.

The opening reception of the exhibit, part of Month of Photography LA, was held on Saturday April 13 at 13445 Beach Avenue, Marina del Rey, CA 90292. The exhibit will stay open until April 30, 2019

Diana Markosian was born in Russia and grew up in California, USA.

Markosian is a Magnum photographer whose work explores the deeply personal, from documenting the lives of young Chechen girls coming of age in the aftermath of war, to her reconnection with her estranged father, to a film on the Armenian genocide survivors.

Her work is both conceptual and documentary, allowing her subjects to dictate the outcome of their work. Her work can be found in publications like National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker and The New York Times.

She is a Magnum Nominee and the recipient of the Chris Hondros Emerging Photographer Grant, Magnum Emerging Photographer Fund, and the Firecracker Grant.

In 2013, she took part in the World Press Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam and was selected as PDN’s 30 Photographers to Watch.

Her work “The Cubanitas” has won World Press Photo 2019 Contemporary Issues, Singles, 1st Prize.