Grandmamma

What if there is somebody you can not be separated from?

We meet different people every day, make friends, spend time together, then someday for some reason we may separate. But many of us, on the contrary, have a person in their lives they are connected to for let’s say forever. I have that one person in my life, her name is Diana and she is my grandmamma.

It has been just me and her since I was 5 years old.

With my father gone and my mom passed away, it was her, taking care of me, cooking, doing my laundry, helping financially.

Places shifted.

Grown up me, taking care of her, helping financially (laundry and cooking staff still shared, but hey, sooner or later will be shifted as well). There are days when it frustrates me I can't do more for her, though I do my best to make her feel happy.

I sometimes let myself dream of a version of me who is completely free, with a happier childhood, no more continuous arguing with the one person around him and no more unbearable burden of responsibility. That version does not seem one with sleep disorders. But then I wake up in my country, Armenia, where elder people are very respected and the most important thing one is considered to have in life is family, even if that’s not really what one believes in.

In 2012 I found myself in a whole different world, called photography, which became some kind of escape of the reality I didn't want to accept.

These series include photos of Diana, captured since my first steps in photography till now. I've been just randomly taking pictures of her, and one day I realized that it became sort of a storytelling about me, about her and her biggest fear - being alone.