Biographical details regarding this Armenian photographer based in Igdir are scant. As a few of his dated photographs show, Pahlavuni's studio operated between the 1890s and 1900s, primarily serving the Armenian population of the city. Prior to the 1915 Genocide and the destruction of Igdir’s Armenian community, he appears to have beenthe only photographer to have a permanent base in this city. Thus, Pahlavuni’s photographs are vivid testimonies about the daily life and habits of Igdir's Armenian inhabitants.

Despite or because of their simplicity, Pahlavuni's portraits attract by their unassuming straightforwardness.The presence of cheap props and painted backgrounds in his studio, engenders a sharply dichotomous visual relationship. The contrasts between the traditionally garbed sitters and their ‘Occidentalist’settings speak aboutthe inevitable contradictions in the mélange of indigenousand imported cultural values ​​during thisperiod of active modernization in the Middle Eastern peripheries.

Vigen Galstyan, 2018