Lieutenant Vahe Avanesyan, 27, and soldier Harut Gasparyan,19, wait in a trench at a frontline post after an order to hide, during the Nagorno Karabakh Four-Day war in Martakert on April 4, 2016.
The six children of Varduhi Chobanyan, 31, pose for a portrait in Nor Erkej village, Nagorno-Karabakh, on July 15, 2017. The children's family lived in poor conditions, not having enough beds. A new house was built for them nearby by the government, where they moved in early 2020. Nor Erkej, being in the Kalbajar region, came under Azerbaijan's control after the Nagorno-Karabakh war in Fall 2020. There has been a conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, for decades, with fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. In 1994, after six years of war, a ceasefire was concluded, but violence has continued along the contact line between the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan, breaking out into a 45-day war in Fall 2020.
Children in Mets Tagher village, Hadrut region, play and run around an airplane that belonged to a WWII Marshal from this village in Nagorno-Karabakh, on February 28, 2020. There has been a conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, for decades, with fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. In 1994, after six years of war, a ceasefire was concluded, but violence has continued along the contact line between the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan, breaking out into a 45-day war in Fall 2020.
New-born boy in the maternity hospital of Nagorno-Karabakh capital Stepanakert, on August 19, 2017. There has been a conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, for decades, with fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. In 1994, after six years of war, a ceasefire was concluded, but violence has continued along the contact line between the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan, breaking out into a 45-day war in Fall 2020.
Kitchen table inside a home in Martuni, Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 1, 2020. The house was hit at 7:30 in the morning of September 27, 2020. Martuni was among the locations targeted on the first day of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
A woman looks at 31 candles she has lit for a missing soldier in Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 16, 2020. She notes that she lit as many candles as is his age. The cathedral was shelled twice on October 8, 2020. Armenians call this town Shushi while Azerbaijanis call it Shusha, the town came under Azerbaijan's control by the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
Part of a missile seen on a street in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh, on October 16, 2020. Armenians call this town Shushi while Azerbaijanis call it Shusha, the town came under Azerbaijan's control by the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
Epraqsya Kandunts, 34, poses for a portrait together with her seven children, in Charektar village, Nagorno-Karabakh, on July 15, 2017. There has been a conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus, for decades, with fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. In 1994, after six years of war, a ceasefire was concluded, but violence has continued along the contact line between the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan, breaking out into a 45-day war in Fall 2020.
House set on fire by its owners, close to Dadivank Monastery in Kalbajar region, seen on November 14, 2020. Kalbajar is one of the regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, turned over to Azerbaijan as the Nagorno-Karabakh war ended. In numerous cases Armenians burned their houses in this region, in order for them not to be inhabited by people moving here from Azerbaijan. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
Families from Nagorno-Karabakh wait for busses to Stepanakert, in Yerevan, Armenia, on November 19, 2020. These families found refuge in Armenia during the days of the Nagorno-Karabakh war and are now returning to their home towns and villages in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
Anush Aleksanyan cries over the coffin that carries her son Erik Hovsepyan, 18, in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh on December 19, 2020. Erik is buried for the second time, his coffin was transferred from Nagorno-Karabakh's Taghavard village to Stepanakert, as half of the village Taghavard came under Azerbaijan's control. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
Five out of ten Babayan children in the living room of their home in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, on December 19, 2020. The Babayan family returned to their home in Stepanakert a few days after the war ended. The Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan began on September 27, 2020. The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quickly escalated from the frontlines to populated towns and villages, and ended on November 10, 2020. The war ended with a ceasefire negotiated by Russia, and with Azerbaijan gaining control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions. Over 5000 people died in the conflict, on both sides. Those living on lands that came under Azerbaijan's control, were displaced.
A House of Culture in Arshaluys village. Armenia, 2016.
Shadow of a girl outside and stage lights on the floor in a room in the Gusanagyugh village House of Culture. Armenia, 2015.
Kyrgyzstan: A source of the Naryn River, the glacier Zapadnyy Suek holds the future of the water system in four Central Asian countries. This glacier and other frozen water sources in this region are melting as the climate changes, and mismanagement of water resources leads towards a precarious future.
Kyrgyzstan: The population of this country, including the numerous villages along the Naryn River, such as Ak-Kyya village, depend on Naryn for the country’s 40 percent of electricity.
Kyrgyzstan: Jaynagul Brjieva, 37, and her family enjoy an outing to a hot spring in Kaji-Say, Kyrgyzstan. This is both an opportunity to bathe her children in warm water and to take advantage of its healing qualities, a unique opportunity for people in a region contending with water shortages.
Kyrgyzstan: Sonunbek Kadyrov’s boat serves the village Kyzyl-Beyit, as a taxi. Access to this village’s main road was covered by water over 20 years ago as a dam was built, in a case when inefficient water management heavily complicated people’s movement.
Uzbekistan: Dinara’s family is still dependent on the sea. Both her father and her husband work along its shores as Artemia Salina shrimp farmers, but the sea is now more than 180 kilometers away from their homes in Muynak. 18-year-old Dinara and her younger relative, on Dinara's wedding day in Muynak, a former sea port in Uzbekistan, on October 27, 2019. Dinara's grandparents were employed within the formerly thriving fishing industry of Muynak. Her family is still dependent on the Aral Sea, as both her father and her husband work by the sea as Artemia Salina farmers.
Tajikistan: With Norak reservoir seen in the background, Ranobi Islomova, 63, who is ill, waits in a car to continue her trip to a neighboring town. The reservoir was formed by the Norak Dam, the tallest in Tajikistan.
Kazakhstan: A hot spring has emerged on the former bed of the Aral Sea, near Akespe village, and is often visited for healing purposes. Over the years the Aral Sea has lost 90 percent of its waters. Shared by Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, this formerly fourth largest lake in the world began to retreat in 1960s, with the Soviet project of diverting the rivers Syr Darya and Amu Darya to serve the cotton industry.
Kazakhstan: Inhabitants of Akespe village make a living by breeding camels on the seabed of the Aral, now a desert, and keeping a boat they use for fishing in what remains of the sea. Sandstorms are making families like that of Aybergen Orazmagambetov, 11, move away from the area to a new neighborhood even farther from the seashore.
Kazakhstan: A former restaurant, which locals call Titanic, stands abandoned on a steppe near lake Balkhash, in symbolic oddity of a ship on dry land.
Location
Yerevan, Armenia

Anush Babajanyan

Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan focuses her work on social narratives and personal stories. In addition to working extensively in the Caucasus, she photographs in Central Asia and around the world.

Anush Babajanyan has worked in Nagorno-Karabakh during the Autumn 2020 war, and continues to work in its aftermath. Anush is also working on an environmental project in Central Asia, supported by the National Geographic Society.

Before joining VII, Anush co-founded and was a member of women photographers’ collective 4Plus. Anush Babajanyan is the winner of the 2019 Canon Female Photojournalist Grant. Her photography has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Foreign Policy Magazine, and various other international publications.

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