HOLY VEIL

A collage series created from original film photographs, digitally layered to explore the intersection of Earth and Armenian Orthodox Christian symbolism. Striking landscapes interact with divine iconography to reflect how religious undertones, both beautiful and burdensome, permeate our lives.

In a time where Christianity in the West is increasingly distorted and manipulated alongside the rise of fascism, a tiny nation on the other side of the world undergoes its own transformation.

For Armenians, Christianity has often been both a point of vulnerability and survival. While historically positioning us as a target in the region, it is also a source of resilience and cultural preservation in the ugly face of Genocide. Churches as refuge for our orphaned survivors. Ancient monasteries and hand-carved cross-stones carrying centuries of our history. Witnessing footage of holy sites destroyed by colonizers, rewriting the stories of our homeland. Turning to prayer as lives are uprooted, lost.

Christianity also embodies corruption, in days past and present. We are left with fragments of our pre-Christian Pagan mythology, piecing together stories passed down over millennia of fire god dragon slayers, dog-like spirits resurrecting martyrs, and goddesses of storm and sea. Rituals of fire jumping and water drenching rebranded. And like any other people, Armenians continue to fight for true liberation: an Armenia where all can live freely, without archaic impositions of personhood.


Amidst these complexities and ever-evolving relationships to faith, I aim to continue exploring these nuances, unearthing inspiration from the light and darkness of it all.