Overview
Yulia Grigoryants uses photography to document the harsh reality of displacement, unrest and extreme poverty in conflict zones and border regions, especially as experienced by ethnic minorities. Cosmic Solitude (2017–2019) explores the alienating ripple effects of Armenia’s post-independence economic collapse through the lens of a remote, Soviet-era astroparticle and geophysics research station. An Unfinished War (2014–ongoing) tracks the devastating impact of the First and Second Nagorno-Karabakh Wars, including the artist’s own displacement due to the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in her birthplace of Baku and the more recent re-ignition of violence in which thousands were killed or lost their homes.