The photographic journey of Tbilisi native Alexander Barseghov began in the late 1960s. According to Vahan Kochar's biographical dictionary, Barseghov lived for a time in Karelia, where he worked as a Russian teacher and photo-correspondent. Returning to Tbilisi in 1974 he became acquainted with the local photographic celebrity Alexander Arutyunov. Together with his mentor, Barseghov visited Armenia on numerous occasions and has dedicated a number of photographic series to the nature and historical monuments of the country. After Arutyunov's untimely death, Barseghov cared for his friend’s family as well as Arutyunov’s huge archive of vintage prints and negatives, which, unfortunately, disappeared after Barseghov’s premature death.(1) The few photographs known to us from the pages of Russian and Georgian press are not sufficient enough for a general idea about the specificities of Barseghyan’s photographic oeuvre.

1) Vahan Kochar, Hay Lusankarichner[Armenian Photographers], self-published, 2007, p.111

2) Aida Babadjyanyan, ‘Aleksandr Arutyunov. Posledniy Kadr’ [in Russian], 31.05.2011, https://aidatiflis7.livejournal.com/61821.html

Vigen Galstyan, 2016