Araz Artinian explores the past

Project Under Construction

Published: Monday November 09, 2009

Elen Khougoyan, right, 15, knitting a Vaspourakan lace and wearing the typical Vaspourakan dress, and Meline Ghaletyan, 13, knitting an Aintab lace, wearing a typical Aintab dress. Araz Artinian

Araz Artinian, who made the film, The Genocide in Me, is creating an interactive website celebrating Armenian history. It involves children and costumes in various parts of Armenia. Karen Mirzoyan

These remote locations are brought to our attention in the photographs, and the eroding historical sites, ruins, and monuments seem naturally to give rise to the ghosts positioned beside them in the photos. Or do the young artists and models in the pictures give rise to ghost ruins? In either case, the physical scene is repopulated by the living counterparts of the people of those times the current practitioners of these disappearing arts. The ruins stand in relief as testimony from the past, issuing a quiet threat concerning these art forms, about the disappearances that come with time and forgetting.

Artinian is still looking for funding to help with the postproduction of the website. The website is set to be launched on International Children's Day, June 1, 2010.