From her website: www.dianamarkosian.com
Diana Markosian has been deported from Azerbaijan, smuggled into Burma by a rebel army and detained by Chechen militias, all in the name of documenting a story. Along the way she has participated in the World Press Joop Swart Masterclass, received Burn Magazine’s Emerging Photographer Fund and has been named one of PDN’s 30 Photographers to Watch. Her work is represented by Reportage by Getty Images and can be found in publications like the New York Times, Newsweek and Time.com.
Markosian’s work is intriguing, moving and often has the painterly quality of a Renaissance master.
I’m always thinking about how can I make my images better. And it’s hard to even understand what better means because it’s so relative and so personal. But I want to keep growing and maturing in the way that I tell my stories. It’s cool to see yourself develop.
Whether shooting in Manhattan, Chechnya or Afghanistan, Markosian’s subject matter is consistent – women, and children, in their everyday. Their everyday being a million miles from anything I can imagine.
Markosian moved to California with her mother at the age of 7 and the searing imagery from her trip to find her father left me sad, cold and hurt on both their behalves. With short, pained phrases she tells the story that accompanies the photos.
I should be happy for him, but when I watch him play with his daughter, it feels like a bruise someone keeps pressing.
His writing told me what he couldn’t otherwise.
There’s pain there that I understand.
When I look at him, I see so much of myself.
Blue Eyes is the story of ten year old orphan Snezhana Cherpanova. A gorgeous, truthful depiction of humanity.
Snezhana attempts to paint her nails, smearing pink nail polish across her fingers.
A quiet moment between Snezhana and her boyfriend, Kolya.
Markosian’s work gnaws at me, stirs my guts and reminds me that the photo is the story.
Interview with Markosian on Columbia Visuals from March of this year.