Publication Details

Hrair Sarkissian: The Other Side of Silence
Exhibition Guide
Paperback
165 pages, 164 visuals
16.5 x 11.5 cm
Arabic and English
Published by Sharjah Art Foundation, 2021

Overview

This exhibition booklet is a record of the first mid-career survey of works by artist Hrair Sarkissian. It includes a Foreword by Hoor Al Qasimi and introductory text by co-curator of the exhibition Omar Kholeif.

The Other Side of Silence explores the myriad ways in which contested histories are narrated and distributed through images. The exhibition takes the audiences on an expansive journey through the hollowed squares of Aleppo, Latakia and Damascus, across the skies above Palmyra and over the snow-covered post-industrial landscapes of modern-day Armenia. The Other Side of Silence brings together two major new commissions by the artist and more than a dozen of his most significant bodies of work from the past 15 years.

Hrair Sarkissian: The Other Side of Silence

Hrair Sarkissian: The Other Side of Silence

The first mid-career survey of artwork by London-based Syrian-Armenian artist Hrair Sarkissian—one of the foremost conceptual photographers of our time—The Other Side of Silence explores the myriad ways in which contested histories are narrated and distributed through images.

Hrair Sarkissian: The Other Side of Silence

Sarkissian, Hrair

Hrair Sarkissian’s photographs reflect on personal memories, using subjectivity as a way to navigate stories that official histories are unable to tell. Using traditional documentary techniques in large-scale works, he engages the viewer in a profound consideration of what lies behind the surface of the images, thereby re-evaluating larger historical or social narratives.