"It is just happened that I captured the essence of Human daily life, joy & struggle."

Born on the 22nd of June 1979 in Beirut city, to an Armenian father and a Lebanese mother.

My familial story is not different from those of my counterparts, but it is due to my father's visual aesthetic, and my mom's willingness to humor his amateur passion of photography that I grew to see, view and observe my surroundings, if not differently, then definitely more attentively.

Throughout the years, I've tried to translate the visuals streaming in through my cornea and reflect them through my father's "Canomatic" camera. Such moments were the spice my life relished on, specifically when I decided to purchase my first Canon EOS 300D in 2003.

Unfortunately, Destiny didn't allow me much playtime with my gadgets, as I had to carry on social responsibilities, which required a complete deviation from my passion towards a more stable career path, or so it seemed…

“I believe every one of us in the world has a gift to discover, smart are the ones who use it well". And thus began my journey...

BLACK TULIP

The most beautiful things are hidden from the eyes of the world.

The human mind is capable of envisioning things, ideas, entire worlds beyond even our wildest dreams. And often, all it needs is a push. Something to bridge the gap between the tangible and the fantastical, allowing us to uncover where they become one.

Once we traverse the boundary separating a vision from its manifestation – its expression in the physical world – and truly ponder its beauty, we can surmise its origins, with appreciation of how it first came to life... and what it has since come to be.

The ‘≈’ epitomizes the notion of birth, documents the formation of life, and explores the crystallization of ideas and messages through bodily shapes elegantly shrouded from the naked eye. A translucent piece of fabric represents the frontier that symbolically separates the viewer from the fertile female form and its contortions. Each image in the 10-piece series chronicles a stage of body formation, and with it, the blossom of the ‘tulip’ that gradually unfolds through the progressing frames. The approach marks a departure from the photographer’s usual style, which has generally focused on facial expressions and the intriguing intricacies of a person’s complexion.

The ‘Black Tulip’ is extraordinary precisely because it all began in the darkness – concealed from the curious gaze of the world. With each shot taken, its author was compelled to make the journey from imagination to reality, and both visualize each image and the exact place that it would assume in the series.

Experience the mystery and the elusive miracle of life taking shape, as seen through the lens of Vartan Kelechian.