Antoine Agoudjian | Burning eyes. Memory of Armenians
I draw my inspiration from what nourishes me humanly, especially meetings because life arise out of meetings. I have strength and fragility but no certainty. I doubt all the time. It surely brings anguish and holds creative energy. In 1996, wandering in Istanbul, feeling fear and excitement in the same time, I strongly felt like looking for places impregnated by the past Armenian presence. My photographic project started from the impressions I had in the city. I decided to travel throughout Middle East looking for prints and memories of a people, my people. Whatever were the difficulties and obstacles I always immersed myself in this work with intuition and instinct. As Mary Desplechin wrote about my work in “L’Express”: “I went to visualize places, villages, people as one goes looking for a voice very often heard on the phone”. I kept searching while reporting in Istanbul, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria, Eastern Anatolia, Armenia, Kharabagh, Iraq, Iran, Djavaghk in Georgia and I continue this work because it is the most important work of my life.