The works of young, self-taught photographer Hayk Barseghyan demonstrate both an unusually masterful grasp of the medium and a deep commitment to socially-engaged perspectives. Born into a journalist’s family, Barseghyan grew up in Gyumri that was decimated by the 1988 earthquake, and as a photographer, he seems to try to understand and analyse the dark legacy that he has ‘inherited’ from the previous generations. Thus, Barseghyan’s activity in documentary photography orients itself as a means of influencing socio-political processes. 

Gyumri’s complex urban and post-industrial landscape, along with the issue of socially disadvantaged families, occupies a special place in Barseghyan's work. These series unflinchingly document the undeniably declining economic and cultural situation of the city. Despite their investigative and informationally-driven character, those images are also distinguished by their noteworthy aesthetic solutions. Barseghyan often uses wide-angle lenses and sharply contrasting colours, imbuing his photographs with a sense of monumentality and inner drama. Such formal solutions are particularly successful in Barseghyan's series depicting the everyday living conditions of Gyumri residents housed in temporary wagon-residences – the so-called ‘domiks’ (2013-16). The photographs transmit to viewer the disturbing condition of families cramped in narrow, inconvenient rooms with an almost physical forcefulness. 

Barseghyan also channels his critical outlook in television format, in which he has co-authored the popular, satirical-analytical TV show called ‘SOS’.

1) Hayk’s father is the noted Gyumri-based journalist and public figure Levon Barseghyan

2) Gagik Aghbalyan, 'Hayk Barseghyan: 25 Tari Apatsutsel en vor Zibil en’ [‘Hayk Barseghyan: For 25 Years They’ve Proved that They are Trash’, in Armenian],  19.02.2014, www.armtimes.com, http://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/48224