Sedrak Vardanyan was the first professional photographer of the Hayfoto agency, where he began to work in 1934.(1) He was better known as ‘Seto’, the moniker with which he signed his photographs. As an employee of the state-run photo-agency, Vardanyan's responsibilities included both the production of studio portraits, as well as various documentary projects. From our perspective today, Vardanyan's images that depict the streets and architectural monuments of Yerevan in the 1930s are of particular value. Some of these were published in the local press and reproduced as postcards. Seto’s photographs are simple observations of Yerevan’s burgeoning urban life that sensibly fixed the rapidly changing image of Yerevan through the photographer’s unassuming lens. A significant collection of these works is now kept in the Yerevan History Museum. No other biographical information about the photographer has been found.

1) Ani Mejlumyan, ‘Lusankarchakan Arvesty Yerevanum (19rd dari verj – 20rd dari kes)’ [in Armenian], 15.08.2017, http://yhm.am/archives/9031

Vigen Galstyan, 2016