At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, we see the appearance of provincial and travelling photo operators across various villages and resort towns of the Armenian highlands. Information regarding the photographers working in rural communities during that period is scarce. From this perspective, the photographs made in Kartchevan –one of southernmost villages in the Syunik region – by Gevorg Karapetyants are particularly interesting. Their existence in itself is already a testimony about the modernization processes in the Armenian provinces and they present quite rare examples of individual self-representation by the locals. Here the images of the villagers stand in stark opposition to clichés perpetuated by Orientalist picturesque photography. Through telling details these family portraits directly point to a relaxed familiarity with global cultural and social developments. Judging from only three known photographs by Karapetyants, he worked in Kartchevan between the 1900-10s and most probably ceased making photographs after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Vigen Galstyan, 2018