Diana Markosian is was born in Moscow in 1996, making her a Russian American who left Moscow to live in California with both her mother and brother. She was family orientated due to not having contact with her father until age 23 before travelling to Armenia to see him 15 years later. Markosian is known as a Russian American artist of Armenian Descent.
Markosians most recognised work is “Inventing my Father” where she explores her fathers absence throughout her life through using archival imagery and landscapes to support her lost memories. She also used physical elements such as newspaper articles, letters and objects which is photographed in a still-life way to represent a personal element to the project, showcasing raw emotion to her audience through using black and white edit and through portrait images of her father.
Relevant Quote- ” I often wondered what it would have been like to have a father. I still do.”
Her Style..
- Black and White Edits
- Burns images
- Fully focused Images
- Birds eye view
- Photo Manipulation
Mood Board
Analysation Image
Technical Analysis- Technically this image is seen to be taken in a poorly lit room which adds to the emotion of the raw image, there is shadowing going on to show that there is a light source coming from somewhere in the room. The image is fully focused and good quality showing that a goof camera has been used to take the depressing photograph.
Visual Analysis- Visually, we can see a printed photograph of Diana and her mother with a cut out image which we can assume would have been her father, representing a broken family photograph. The image has been cut out physically through scissors. Due to the background we can also see that this image has been taken in a photo album due to the type/ texture of the paper.
Conceptual Analysis- Conceptually, this image can be seen that there is a clear disappearance of a family member in the image which represents lack of responsibility and absence in the family home. This can further be looked into by the cut out showing the audience how important Diana’s mother was to her due to being the only adult influence she had.
Contextual Analysis- After research, this image contextually portrays an image which Diana’s mother had cut out after being stuck into the family photo album. The cut out represents the loss of a family member.
Meaning behind this choice
After researching the artist Diana Markosian in detail, I have decided that I would like to use her as an inspiration towards my first photo shoot as I feel as if our imagery is in relation to each other. Although her images have depressing backgrounds to it and mine will be showing good times in my life, I still feel as if she is a good basis on what archive images can been to a certain personal emotionally which is an element I was aiming to use in my project.