The solo exhibition Other Pains includes three bodies of work where captivating landscapes and urban scenes reflect sites of previous pain, trauma or melancholy from both the artist’s own personal history and that of others. Through extensive research Sarkissian conveys stories of conflict, displacement, loss and hope.
By documenting sites that bear the scars of trauma as hints that remain of a life that has gone before in a landscape or previously loved place, Sarkissian draws upon personal and collective memories to reveal narratives previously untold.
As a third-generation Syrian photographer of Armenian descent, Sarkissian grew up with the inherited narrative of the 1915 Armenian genocide from which both of his grandparents were the sole survivors of their respective families.
Sarkissian is considered one of the leading conceptual photographers of his generation. He trained at his father’s photographic studio in Damascus, Syria, which to this day informs his perspective and practice. In 2010, he completed a BFA in Photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam.
Sarkissian’s practice spans photography, moving image, sculpture, sound and installation, sometimes creating meditative dreamscapes; sometimes capturing landscapes which were previously places of trauma and destruction.
A major new commission for Other Pains, Sea of Trees, is an installation of seven large format photographs with sound, captured in Aokigahara forest, which encompasses 30 square kilometres on the northwestern flank of Mount Fuji in Japan.
A sea of trees thrives on hardened lava deposited by the last major volcanic eruption over a thousand years ago. The roots of hemlock, cypress and pine trees are unable to penetrate the ground, and snake out over the surface through a blanket of moss. Evergreen, and resembling an ocean when looked at from Mount Fuji, the forest is commonly referred to as Jukai, or Sea of Trees. The porous lava rock absorbs all sound, contributing to a profound sense of solitude.
The practice of finding solace in remote places to end life has deep roots in Japanese culture and mythology. Aokigahara forest has long been associated with this – a place where souls meet or disappear.
Sarkissian has captured the beauty and serenity of the forest in a series of large format photographs. Printed on aluminium and ceiling mounted, surrounded by the sounds of the Aokigahara forest, the installation allows visitors to walk around each work, emulating a sense of walking through the forest.
Included in the exhibition is a three-channel video installation Sweet & Sour, Sarkissian travelled to his ancestral village to capture a place that was unknown and yet familiar to him. He subsequently travelled to Damascus, where he shared the footage with his father, who had also never visited his birthplace. The filmed encounter focuses on the emotional landscape of his father’s face as he watches the footage Sarkissian has captured. A third screen shows Sarkissian himself overlooking his ancestral land.
The third part of the exhibition in 47 archival inkjet prints is called Last Scene –a series of photographs of locations in The Netherlands that were chosen by terminally ill patients to visit as their last wish. The scenes were captured on the same date and time the actual visit took place in a previous year.
The project centres on the power of a well-loved place to express an outlook on life in one scene that is at once melancholic and joyful. The simplicity of each landscape or scene heightens attention to an inner journey of remembering the past and envisioning a future beyond your time. The images turn into mirrors: on the one hand the viewer can try to imagine the person who looked at the scene for the last time, while at the same time it encourages personal introspection.
Cabinet Member for City Development, Jobs and Skills, Councillor Chris Burden, said: “Wolverhampton Art Gallery is honoured to welcome award-winning photographer Hrair Sarkissian in this powerful solo exhibition, Other Pains. This immersive showcase of captivating landscapes and urban scenes reveals previously untold narratives, offering a compelling and unmissable experience.”
Hrair Sarkissian, Other Pains, runs at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from Saturday, 29 March until Sunday 22 June.