Antoine Agoudjian, a French artist of Armenian origin, has opened a photography exhibition called “The cry of silence, traces of an Armenian memory” in a part of the old city walls in Amed, called Keciburnu.
Antoine Agoudjian, a French artist of Armenian origin, has opened a photograph exhibition called “The cry of silence, traces of an Armenian memory” in a part of the old city walls in Amed, called Keciburnu.
Antoine Agoudjian has dedicated his 27 years to following the traces of memories left by his grandparents who survived the genocide and took refuge in Marseille in 1923. Antoine travelled to make a photographic documentation of Armenian people in Syria, Aleppo, Georgia and Armenia. He put the evocative images he took together in an exhibition he named “The Cry of Silence”. He opened an exhibition in 2011 in Istanbul. This was the first exhibition in Turkey on Armenian cultural memory and identity to be exhibited in the country since the 1915 genocide. His 2011 exhibition attracted great attention both in Turkey and France.
In March 2015, he published a book encapsulating 27 years of his photography, entitled Le cri du silence: traces d’une mémoire arménienne (The Cry of Silence, Traces of Armenian Memory). This body of work is currently exhibited in several venues around France, as well as and above all now in Amed in Keciburnu, for the centenary of the Armenian genocide.
The exhibition in Amed has been organised jointly by the Amed Metropolitan Municipality and Amed Trade Organisation. The opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by Amed co-mayors Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı, the head of the Foundation of Surp Giragos Armenian Church, Ergun Ayık, Amed bar chair Tahir Elçi as well as dozens of citizens.
Speaking at the opening, Antoine Agoudjian said he was pleased to be in Amed for the exhibition, adding that he opened the exhibition as he wanted people to see these historic images and that important projects can be pursued from a humane viewpoint.
Amed co-mayor Fırat Anlı stressed in his speech that these images were at the same time the images of the reality of these lands, adding that he was pleased to host the exhibition in Amed, however was sad at the same time as the pain has always been part of the reality of these lands. Anlı said they commemorated all the victims who lost their lives, were exterminated, exiled and deported, and wished for a society in which different communities live in peace and fraternity.
The exhibition will remain open until 31 May.
