AM 2021
25 galleries
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92 imagesThis collection includes a series of evocative images capturing everyday life in Spitak, Armenia, a city once shattered and now reconstructed. Alongside, there are poignant photographs of the old city, nearly obliterated by a catastrophic earthquake 33 years prior. During my initial visit on January 16, 2021, the silent sorrow of the buildings was palpable, yet the resilient spirit of the inhabitants' past lives lingered. Compelled by this, I returned on February 1, 2021, to observe the reestablished and relocated community of Spitak. Spitak, situated in northern Lori Province, is 96 km north of Yerevan, the capital, and 22 km west of the provincial capital, Vanadzor. The 1988 earthquake, which ravaged the city, necessitated its rebuilding in a new location. The December 1988 earthquake in Armenia was a tragedy of immense proportions, claiming 25,000 lives and leaving 500,000 homeless. Mirroring the global response to the southern Asia tsunami 16 years later, this disaster garnered worldwide compassion and triggered a significant influx of international aid. (VX Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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139 imagesDuring my 60-day self-organized photojournalism trip to Armenia, I visited Gyumri three times. I was immensely impressed by its climate, the friendliness of its people, and the welcoming atmosphere. The city also exuded a sense of safety. Once, while struggling to lock my car doors, a passerby approached and reassured me, saying, "Don't worry, just leave it." My friend Armen intervened, suggesting that it was perfectly safe and that nobody would touch it. Driven by curiosity, I tried opening the door of another car parked nearby. To my surprise, it was unlocked. It seems that in this wonderfully carefree city, locking doors is not a common practice. Gyumri is the regional center with a history that stretches back at least five thousand years. Geographically, it is located in the Shirak Valley, on the left bank of the Akhuryan River, and just north of Mount Aragats, the highest mountain in Armenia. Along a certain alleyway, local artists sell their creations, which include paintings, wood carvings, and tufa stone carvings. Gyumri is also renowned for its exceptional goldsmiths.
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2 galleriesOn Sunday, Jan 31, 2021, I travelled for the 3rd time to Metsamor, which is a town and urban municipal community in the Armenian western province Armavir. It is famous for being home to Armenia's Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuclear plant in the Transcaucasian region. And, as of the 2011 census, the town had a population of 9,191. Metsamor is also home to the Soviet Hotel, which was built in the time of the USSR, and abandoned, but today it is home to Armenia's internally displaced population of its eastern troubled and disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh. According to Armenian government statistics, there are 192 000 internally displaced people in Armenia, this figure covers displacement due to a variety of causes. However, according to IOM (International Organisation for Migration) as of Dec 2020 - an estimated 92 639 people alone, were displaced as a result of military operations in areas bordering Azerbaijan due to the 44 days of war over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In this gallery's pictures, I will tell you the story of Vardan, Eleta, Davit, Valery, and Lena.
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17 imagesHaghartsin is a 13th-century monastery located near the town of Dilijan in the Tavush Province of Armenia. The tour guide of the monastery said that it was built between the 10th and 13th centuries, adding that much of it was under the patronage of the Bagratuni Dynasty. Haghartsin Monastery in Dilijan, pictured on Sunday, Jan 31, 2021. (VX Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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119 imagesLernagog is a village in the Armavir Province of Armenia. It is located right in the vicinity of Aragatsotn province. The village was formerly a sovkhoz. The village is sponsored by the COAF Children of Armenia Fund and is one of the cleanest villages in Armenia. It has a very good school with the first creativity lab in Armenia. About 1200 people live in Lernagog, most of them have children and they marry in different parts of the region. Most of the families are young the residents said. They said that the average living time is 65-70 and they said there's no police in the area because there are no crimes. If someone gets too old and they're all alone, the entire residential community will never leave them alone, they will be helped.
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54 imagesArmenia is sandwiched in the middle of its two central enemies. In its western bank, Armenia is bordering Turkey, meanwhile, in the East, it shares its borders with Azerbaijan. I visited Armavir on Friday, Jan 22, 2021, during a road trip discovering Armenia. Armavir is a town and urban municipal community located in the west of Armenia serving as the administrative centre of Armavir Province. It was founded in 1931 by the government of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and it borders eastern Turkey. (VX Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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35 imagesThis is a story about jealous dogs of Armenia. On Friday, Jan 22, 2021, I was returning to Metsamor to meet again with a few families and talk about the stories they wanted to share. They were located in the abandoned facilities of the former "Soviet Hotel", but we (I, my assistant photographer and our Armenian friend) were not allowed by the security to enter the building, so as we left the area to pick up our car, we came across four dogs. One of them that appeared to be a female is under two other dogs, one is the male partner she may have chosen to mate with, and then, there's another male dog that is literarily wildly attacking the chosen partner while he's apparently in sexually-connected intercourse with the female dog. The Jealous dog that I thought was attacking the chosen one because he may have been in love with the female dog, was calm at first sight when they saw us approaching, I was confused at the first sight and just took a snap, and continued my way to the car parking lot, loaded my equipment in and started driving. As soon as we drove in the street, the entire situation became extremely wild. Quickly enough, three other jealous dogs (perhaps subordinates of the first one) arrived at the scene and just joined the charade of violence against the chosen male dog, by violently dragging around the street also the female dog that was suffering the consequences of the attack organised by other jealous dogs on the very male dog she had chosen to mate with. I took a few pictures at the very moment, and although I was scared that I could have been attacked, I couldn't help but shout at them to stop. Eventually found a plastic bin and threw it at them, for reasons unknown to me, I had captured that moment on my camera. I then dropped my photo cameras back in the car and tried to break a branch of the tree nearby and use it as a tool to push away these other jealous dogs. Luckily, they appeared to be afraid of me, perhaps because I was shouting with an extremely high pitch, so much so that I felt pain in my throat. Many residences showed up in the balconies and some others from their shops nearby, gladly they joined to help and so we separated the jealous dogs and tried to keep them away from the couple. I could say that this was a fairly traumatic event to witness, I've never seen dogs in such a state of behaviour in my entire life. To this day when I remember that, I can feel my hands shaking due to this traumatic memory. But, why do dogs get into fights? I asked Google today. Google says that dogs get into fights for a variety of reasons, most of which are rooted in natural canine instincts. "Many fights are territorial, such as when a strange dog enters your yard. The urge to protect the people in its pack, its food, or some prized possession may provoke your dog to attack another dog." And I wonder, was the chosen male dog a strange one?
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38 imagesThis is a set of general pictures that offer a view of the livelihood in the cold days in the centre of Armenia capital Yerevan on Thursday, Jan 21, 2021. (VX Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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3 galleriesSince 1988, Yerablur has become the burial place of Armenian soldiers who lost their lives during the armed conflict in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerablur is well known as Armenia's Military Pantheon. Many soldiers were killed in the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020 that ended with Armenia's defeat against Azerbaijan. Armenians march with candles to the cemetery of Yerablur in Yerevan to honour the fallen soldiers in the war of Nagorno-Karabakh against Azerbaijan.
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40 imagesVoskevaz Winery is located in the Aragatsotn region of Armenia in the village by the same name, “Voskevaz.” It means "golden bunch," in the Armenian language. This is the region where one can find the foothills area of the highest mountain in Armenia's Aragats and is amazingly beautiful and diverse, and its land keeps cultural layers of ancient Armenian civilization. Voskevaz Winery was established in 1932. With all of the modern innovations, it still has carefully preserved much of its authentic elements including the buildings.
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27 imagesA set of general pictures show children going to school, ancient khachkars, improvised petrol stations, kinds of vehicles are used for transport and the general livelihood of the Armenian people in the villages of Antarut and Voskevas, located in the Aragatsotn Province of Armenia. Pictures are taken during a road trip discovering Armenia on Tuesday, Jan 12, 2021. (VX Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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15 imagesPeople go through a PCR Certificate test check as they enter Armenia through Yerevan airport on Tuesday, Jan 12, 2021.
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7 imagesThe Armenian Genocide memorial complex is Armenia's official memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, built-in 1967 on the hill of Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan. Friday, April 23rd marks the 106th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and it is known as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in Yerevan, Armenia. President Joe Biden said the U.S. views the killing of 1.5 million Armenians over 100 years ago as genocide, raising tensions with Turkey, a NATO ally.
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11 imagesYerevan metro has one line and operates 10 stations. The frequency of the trains during the busy hours is every five minutes, and the other hours, 15 minutes. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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14 imagesA beautiful sunset turns certain layers of the sky in red and orange meanwhile members of the armed forces help a logistics transporter who slipped along the M12 highway driving towards Goris in Syunik province, southern Armenia on Sunday, Jan 24, 2021. No injuries reported. Heavy weather with blizzard led for black ice to form a layer in asphalt causing many heavy and light transporting vehicles to get stuck or slipping away from the main road. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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26 imagesSteam rises from the cooling towers of Metsamor nuclear power station in Armenia on Friday, Jan 22, 2021. It is one of the last old operating Soviet reactors built without containment vessels, its location in a seismic zone has drawn renewed attention since Japan's earthquake-and-tsunami-triggered crisis. Nuclear Engineering International reported on January 18 that Armenia plans to extend the service life of its five-decade-old nuclear power plant in Metsamor after 2026 and has not abandoned plans to build a new plant. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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31 imagesOverview pictures show the Cascade and the rest of the city centre in Yerevan during December 2020 and January 2021. Cascade is a giant stairway made of limestone in Yerevan, Armenia. The Cascade links the downtown Kentron area of Yerevan with the Monument neighbourhood. Designed by architects Jim Torosyan, Aslan Mkhitaryan, and Sargis Gurzadyan the construction of the cascade started in 1971 and was partially completed in 1980. From the 6th century BCE, Yerevan formed part of the Armenian kingdom. The literature says that in 1920 Yerevan became the capital of the independent Armenian republic. It remained the capital during the periods of Soviet rule and of renewed independence. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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7 imagesGeneral views of the city centre of Armenia's capital city Yerevan from December 2020 towards January 2021 - shows what some road police officers in Yerevan say the crucial increase in the number of cars is number one problem that hinders their efforts to bring some order to the streets. It is thought that around 12,000 cars are bought by Yerevan residents annually. In addition to it, some 20,000 other cars enter the city from nearby and remote regions. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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20 imagesThe Blue Mosque, which is the 18th-century Shia mosque in Yerevan, Armenia on Friday, Jan 15, 2021. This building was commissioned by Huseyn Ali Khan, the khan of Erivan and it is one of the oldest extant structures in central Yerevan and the most significant structure from the city's Iranian period. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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6 imagesA sign (bottom right of the window) says "wear a mask to save lives" in an Armenian public transport yellow bus, while a person wearing a face surgical protective mask is seen sat through the misty glass due to low temperatures of cold and snowy weather in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2021. According to John Hopkins University, Coronavirus death rates in Armenia reached up to 164,912 with over 3,000 deaths. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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23 imagesSnow hits Armenian capital Yerevan on Tuesday, Jan 19, 2021. The climate is highland continental, dry with four seasons. The air quality is generally acceptable for most individuals, with temperatures going low to -1°C. However, sensitive groups may experience minor to moderate symptoms from long-term exposure says 'AccuWeather' weather cast website. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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61 imagesLocated in the northern part of Armenia, Lori is the largest region of the country. With its tall mountains, lush forests, green landscapes and ancient monasteries, Lori province has a great variety of attractions that are in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage. Vanadzor is the capital and largest city of the province. Other important towns include Stepanavan, Alaverdi, and Spitak, which is a city that was struck by a devastating earthquake in December 1988. The rubbles are still at the place, the ghost devastated town is still calling for visitors to see what it feels like to be struck by a quake.
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9 imagesActors performed at the 1957 story How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography in Yerevan, Armenia on Sunday, Jan 3, 2021. The piece is written and illustrated by Dr Seuss, published as both a Random House book and in an issue of Redbook magazine. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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17 imagesBelievers attend a service on Christmas eve, in the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, in Yerevan, Armenia on Tuesday, Jan 5, 2021. Armenia celebrates Christmas on January 6, adhering to the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church. (Photo/ Vudi Xhymshiti)
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