2635) National Geographic’s March 2004 Issue Celebrates Armenia With Lies Galore

Alexandra Avakian....Who is she?

Alexandra Avakian is a freelance photographer who graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983 with a degree in the liberal arts. She has published in such magazines as Time, Life, Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Magazine, and Audubon, as well as in European magazines such as Geo, Stern, FAZ, and Paris Match. Avakian has traveled extensively in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, where she covered the crisis in Haiti. She worked in the former U.S.S.R. for Time from 1990 to 1992, and then lived among the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip for more than two years. “Gaza: Where Peace Walks a Tightrope” in the September 1996 issue, is Avakian’s first assignment for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. . . .

Avakian’s photographs and interview are featured in September’s online Gaza Strip content module.

AGBU’s Enemy of the People Selected in National Geographic’s March Issue as a Must-See Film

Date: 3/2/2004

Contact: AGBU Press Office
Phone: (212) 319-6383
Fax: (212) 319-6507
Email: agbuwb@agbu.org


New York – National Geographic’s March 2004 issue celebrates Armenia with a special 22-page spread entitled, “Armenia Reborn.” Written by Frank Viviano and accompanied by Alexandra Avakian’s photographs, the article highlights Armenia’s struggle to modernize since its independence in 1992.

Avakian, an accomplished Armenian American photographer, was asked to choose three films for the article she felt shed light on the Armenia’s spirit and history. She chose Paradjanov’s classic Color of Pomegranates (1969), Egoyan’s groundbreaking Ararat (2002), and Zareh Tjeknavorian’s chilling Enemy of the People (1998). Funded by AGBU, Enemy of the People is a powerful documentary that tells the story of the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union, which claimed millions of lives and traumatized the nation. Tjeknavorian investigates “The Great Terror,” as it is known, and its impact on Soviet Armenia as a microcosm of national injustice.

The filmmaker traveled across the former Soviet Union in an effort to reconstruct the lives and journeys the exiles were forced to endure. Tjeknavorian interviews many who suffered through this turbulent period and employs lost film footage long buried in the Soviet archives.

Enemy of the People portrays a crucial and little known aspect of twentieth century Armenian history and can be ordered from AGBU Bookstore in New York, by calling, 212.319.6383, emailing, books@agbu.org, or writing, AGBU Bookstore, 55 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022-1112.

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To read National Geographic’s “Armenia Reborn” article online, visit: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0403/feature2/

Source: Mavi Boncuk

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