Washingtonian
February 2009
Art Amid the Ruins
She’s been shot at and beaten. Through it all, this photojournalist
captured amazing images of war-and peace.
By Denise Kersten Wills
Alexandra Avakian grew up around movie cameras. Her mother was an
actress, her father a filmmaker.
But Avakian, who spent much of her childhood in New York City, knew by
age nine that she wanted to work with a different kind of
camera. While on a break from Sarah Lawrence College, she shot a photo
essay about the heroin addicts, aspiring actors, and other residents
of a transient hotel in Greenwich Village.
Fascinated by her Armenian family’s stories of escaping upheavals in
Iran and Russia, she longed to cover wars and revolutions. "Even when
I slept, I often had dreams of working in a foreign city in the midst
of an uprising, with demonstrators and fires in the street," she
writes in her new book, Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim
World, a memoir with photographs.
In 1986, she went to Haiti during the overthrow of President
Jean-Claude Duvalier. "I was so frightened on the way," says Avakian,
48, who now lives in Virginia with her husband and son. "But as soon
as I set foot in that place, I was like a fish in the ocean. I didn’t
feel afraid."
She spent much of the next 20 years in the Middle East, on assignment
for National Geographic, the New York Times Magazine,Time, and other
publications. She traveled with Yasir Arafat, spent eight weeks with
Hezbollah, and visited refugee camps in Somalia and Sudan.
She was shot at and beaten, and she saw starvation and
violence. Sometimes she captured moments of joy. One highlight was
visiting Iran, her paternal grandfather’s homeland, in 1998. She went
to the adobe house where her grandfather had lived as a child and
tasted the walnuts at an orchard her great-grandfather had owned.
What did she learn amid wars and revolutions? "You see who people
really are," Avakian says. "You can see incredible bravery in a little
old lady or cowardice in a seemingly strong man."
For a Q&A with Avakian and a gallery of her photos, visit
washingtonian.com/avakian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
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