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Anush Babajanyan is an
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
and a founder of the women's photography collective, 4Plus. She is best known for her documentation of lives in the conflict zones of the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
.


Biography

Anush Babajanyan studied at the Caucasus Media institute. In 2005, Babajanyan graduated from a programme of photography courses was offered by World Press Photo organised by Ruben Mangasaryan. She graduated with a degree in mass communications from the
American University in Bulgaria The American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) is a private university in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Established in 1991, AUBG had about 1,000 students from over 40 countries on 5 continents as of Fall 2022. Close to 40% of the students are internationa ...
in 2006.


Career

After her graduation, Babajanyan worked as a contractor for the BBC Monitoring Service in Armenia, following which she became a freelance photojournalist. From 2008, Babajanyan began to photograph women on the streets of Yerevan who distinguished themselves with their bright and unrestrained clothing. This developed as a project she called ''Inlandish'', a neologism she used in opposition to the word ''outlandish'', in which she explored how the women's inner lives manifested in their exterior world. In 2009, Babajanyan began a project documenting the survivors of the Gyumri earthquake. Even twenty years after, nearly 4000 families were living in metal self-built shacks called ''domiks''. These had no electricity or water supplies and were so ramshackle that another temblor would shatter them. Her pictures were exhibited in December 2009, in Yerevan. Babajanyan co-founded the women's photography collective 4Plus in 2013. A joint exhibition, ''mOther Armenia'', with ten photographers was one of the first projects of 4Plus. Inspired by and in opposition to the
Mother Armenia Mother Armenia () is a female personification of Armenia. Her most public visual rendering is a monumental statue in Victory Park overlooking the capital city of Yerevan, Armenia. Mother Armenia statue in Yerevan The current statue replaced a m ...
statue in Yerevan's Victory Park that symbolised reverence for women, each of the ten collections exposed different issues faced by women in the country. Babajanyan also began a long-term project documenting the migration of Armenian women to Turkey for work. In 2016, Babajanyan began a project to document the experiences of Syrian Armenians who fled the Syrian Civil War to Yerevan. While the Armenian government acted speedily to give citizenship to the refugees, their economic situation remained precarious, with both jobs and official housing in short supply. Babajanyan's photographs showed the domestic lives of the refugees. In particular, she showed the artefacts of significance that they brought with them to remember their previous lives. She, along with
John Stanmeyer John Stanmeyer (born March 1964), is an American photojournalist based in Otis, Massachusetts. He is one of the founders of VII Photo Agency. Stanmeyer has received the World Press Photo of the Year,
and Serra Akcan, started ''Bridging Stories'', a photography training programme for Turks and Armenians to take and share pictures of their daily life on Instagram, in order to promote understanding between their peoples. In 2017, Babajanyan travelled in
Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...
, where she documented the people's belief in the mystical powers of twins. Identically dressed siblings would mill about near mosques, and passers-by would give them money in return for a blessing. A photo series was exhibited in
Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...
. She also appeared in
Levison Wood Major Levison James Wood, , VR (born 5 May 1982) is a British Army officer and explorer. He is best known for his extended walking expeditions in Africa, Asia, and Central America. He has also undertaken numerous other overland journeys, inclu ...
's television programme ''From Russia to Iran'', where she guided him into Nagorno-Karabakh.


References


External links


Anush Babajanyan

4Plus, a photography collective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babajanyan, Anush Armenian journalists Armenian women journalists Living people Photojournalists 21st-century photographers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women photographers Women photojournalists