the politics of pictures

It has been quite a while since my last post. The news/excitement here in Armenia has been all about the recent presidential election. Unfortunately I am strictly forbidden from commenting on such things publicly, as I am but a humble servant volunteering at the behest our great nation. But it's been interesting and I encourage you to look up some articles on recent events here in this country.

So instead of political comment I thought I'd post some pictures that a photographer friend of mine recently took of Armenia.

This is a photo of Noravank, in my opinion the most beautiful church in Armenia. With numerous empires washing over Armenian territory for the last 2000 some odd years, many Armenian churches were built in inconspicuous areas, to avoid plunder and destruction. Some atop mountains, others in the small shallows of plains. This particular church rises from almost out of nowhere as you drive through a spectacular gorge. The stone was quarried from the adjoining mountain and makes it almost camouflage. This photo is taken from an adjoining mountain.

This statue has always been one of my favorites in Armenia. It sits just outside of my city (Gyumri) just in front of a run-down and abandoned Soviet-era glass factory. There's something about the communist ideal embodied in these young workers marching forward in solidarity, which makes the now rotting reality somehow eerily symbolic of the decay that the Soviet Union loosed on Armenia.

This picture was taken in a village called Getk, just outside of Gyumri. The village life here is so much different than in the city.