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TBILISI: Eyes Full Of Armenian Sorrow

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  • TBILISI: Eyes Full Of Armenian Sorrow

    EYES FULL OF ARMENIAN SORROW
    By Nino Gvalia

    The Messenger, Georgia
    Oct 3 2005

    Yuri Mechitov's photo project at the Caucasian House

    Yuri Mechitov
    The portraits of Armenians from Tbilisi

    Until October 5, the Caucasian House at 20 Galaktion Tabidze St. is
    hosting an exhibition of locally renowned photographer Yuri Mechitov.

    While entering the exhibition hall, your eyes may alight at a series of
    portraits of different people - a shoemaker, an artist, a journalist,
    a TV operator, a film director, a photographer - in a word; various
    faces with individual life stories.

    But what these people have common is that they are Armenians living in
    Tbilisi. In addition, as the photographer noted, all his photo-heroes
    have "Armenian sorrow" in their eyes. This sorrow, he says, is by
    and large a product of the tragic history of the Armenian people,
    though some of it is due to the rapid changes underway in their
    native Tbilisi.

    According to Yuri Mechitov, he has been working on this project for
    approximately three years. As the photographer said, inspiration came
    from the Armenian 19-century artist Akop Vovnatanian, who used to
    paint Tbilisians. Consequently, this collection is entitled Armenians
    from Tbilisi - dedication to Akop Vovnatanian.

    "My mother was a true Armenian, but father had a more Georgian
    orientation," said Mechitov, adding that he is quite upset that
    some want to "plant the seeds of animosity" against Armenians and
    show these people from a negative perspective. "These people live in
    Tbilisi and are patriots of the city, so with this collection I want
    to express my respect to these Armenians," added the photographer.

    While asked to comment about this exhibition, artist and art
    critic Nino Zaalishvili noted that she knows many people from this
    series and has seen their portraits mostly in paintings, but not in
    photographs. "These Armenians are real residents of Tbilisi and I
    was very curious to see their portraits from Yuri Mechitov's artistic
    viewpoint," Zaalishvili said.
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