Hrair Sarkissian: Background

Limited edition of Hrair Sarkissian’s first artist book, reflecting on the disappearing tradition of studio portraiture in the Middle East. This important publication features Hrair Sarkissian’s photographs of empty, staged studio backdrops across six Middle Eastern cities: Alexandria, Amman, Beirut, Byblos, Cairo and Istanbul. These backdrops, absent of their sitters, become symbols of lost traditions, cultural identity and time; eulogies to a certain period within a society and celebrations of portraiture as an art form, and of these spaces, which can no longer be found. Signed and numbered by the artist. Limited to 100.