1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
This is a series of heritage portraits based on vintage family and other historical photographs. These portraits connect our personal histories to heritage sites and cultural artifacts in a way that denies the politics of imperialism. The portraits interrogate and resist the dominant historical narratives written by colonialist empires about the people they have displaced and creatively reimagine them.
When asked why they wanted to collaborate on an Ancestor portrait, so many of the people that I photographed explored questions of identity, belonging and the loss of homeland. In these works we create our own narratives to portray our identities as we see them.
The people in these portraits have been on a journey to explore their ancestral roots, learning their heritage languages, practicing family recipes, archiving family history. A photograph can create a sense of place where none existed, a connection to who we are and where we came from, holding space for us no matter who we are.
Archiving Our Existence
I am the fountain, you the water
Speaking Through the Silence
Indkna (Here We Are)
That Hope is You
But We Are Not Destroyed
From My Grandmother's Hands
Welcome
The Bride Հարսը
My Grandfather Talks to Fairuz
Hrant Kebantsi
Winning in America
Isahakyan’s Dream
Our Land is Not for Your Exploitation
Mornings with Fairuz
The New Freedom Fighters
Fedayi