078 - Anush Babajanyan

Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan is a member of the VII Photo Agency. Her work is focussed on social narratives related to women, issues of minorities, and the aftermath of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, among other subjects. In addition to working extensively in the Caucuses, she continues to photograph in Turkey, the Middle East and West Africa. Much of Anush’s recent activity has been dedicated to peace building processes between Armenia and Turkey. In 2016, she co-founded the #BridgingStories project that brought together young photographers from Turkey and Armenia, in an effort to build peace between the two nations. Before joining VII, Anush co-founded and was a member of women photographers’ collective 4Plus. She received a grant from the Open Society Foundations Documentary Photography Project in 2013 to assist with her continuing work between Armenia and Turkey and her photography has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Foreign Policy Magazine, and various other international publications. In episode 078, Anush discusses, among other things: Self awareness while storytelling Nagoro Karabakh A year in Alabama, USA Feeling lost and how to fix that Everything takes time The group she helped found, 4Plus Her hand made book, The House of Culture Unicef kids Twins of Koumassi What she’d tell her 20 year old self Being good enough Mentioned: John Stanmeyer (coming soon!) Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram “You should work and work and let the time pass and never lose direction, get to your long period of time and then maybe look back and see. But lack of confidence is completely pointless, it never takes you anywhere.”