Since 1989 I devote myself to the making of this photographic work about the memory. Each report leads me to places relating the Armenian History in the Ottoman Empire, where accounts took place that nourished my fantasy. After the Armenian earthquake of 1988, the humanitarian aid was for me the opportunity to enter this symbolic land, until then only present in my spirit.
At the beginning, photography was only a second hand ally, but it quickly turned into an essential vehicle of my emotions.
In 1996, wandering through the town of Istanbul, divided between fear and excitement, I felt the uncontrollable need to begin a research about the Armenians on this historical soil. My project is born from those feelings I’ve experienced in this city.
I decided to cross the Middle East, in search of the memory and prints of a population, my people. Whatever the difficulties, incomprehension’s on my work, or obstacles which were drawn up in front of me, it was necessary for me to progress despite everything and to put my life at it. I continued my search in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, in Syria, in Oriental Anatolia, Armenia, then in Iraq and Iran.
I wanted to give to my work a historical component, which seems essential to me. I needed to dig deeper into my knowledge on this question. Two renowned historians, Raymond H. KEVORKIAN and Claude MUTAFIAN, helped me to approach the historical aspects and to determine the places where to do my reports
Antoine Agoudjian