Photography Captures Enduring Culture of Armenian Province of Syunik

Even though Ted & Nune Studio in Hastings-on-Hudson is a relatively new kid on the block among Westchester galleries, having been founded in 2023, the photographic team behind the enterprise, Ted Andreasian and Nune Karamyan, has won multiple awards at various international photo competitions.

In the past few years, the duo’s photographic focus has been on Armenian cultural heritage. In the gallery’s latest photography exhibition, Syunik: Landscape of Endurance, Andreasian and Karamyan showcase the beauty of the remote southern highlands of Armenia. The show also brings awareness to the complex political situation surrounding the contested area of Syunik (aka Zangezur), a region whose topography and history are inseparable from ongoing debates between Armenia and Azerbaijan over territorial claims and transit rights.

Running through February 8, the show uses striking imagery of Syunik’s terrain to explore its people’s permanence across millennia. Images of ancient monasteries, mountain villages and stark ridges bear witness to centuries of human endurance.

Karamyan, who grew up in Armenia and regularly takes trips back with Andreasian, says that it is “disheartening” to see how politicians can use propaganda to reframe history to gain political and economic advantage: “What is unfolding reflects an outsider-driven agenda that does not account for the people, culture or history of the region. Syunik has been home to Armenian communities since antiquity. Unfortunately, its history is often distorted by neighboring states, and its historical roots are often questioned.”

To demonstrate historical continuity of the region, “Ted and Nune” (a collaborative name by which the duo attributes their work rather than individually crediting works) made a curatorial choice to include a dark red strip across the walls, which is meant to document the historical timeline of the Syunik region, including prehistoric observatories, medieval kingdoms and the hardships of the early post-Soviet years.

While the exhibition’s supporting didactic materials spotlight history and endurance, the landscapes themselves vividly embody this narrative. In the panoramic photograph Harzhis Abandoned Village, steep mountains loom over a solitary village where stone houses cling to hillsides, their weathered facades echoing centuries of adaptation to harsh seasonal cycles. On the other hand, Tatev. On the Edge captures the remains of the centuries-old monastery perched on a crag above a deep green gorge: light and shadow play across the carved stone, emphasizing both the monument’s sacred calm and the raw force of the land that surrounds it. These images recall Syunik’s role as both sanctuary and sentinel in Armenian culture.

By foregrounding these detailed landscapes and their rich historical resonance, the exhibition frames Syunik not as an abstract geopolitical prize but as a lived place, where belonging and endurance are inseparable from its geography. The photographs offer a visual testimony to livelihood, heritage and the right to remain rooted in a homeland that has shaped its people for centuries.

According to the gallery’s website, the artists realized that “even among Armenians, many have never visited Syunik or learned its rich and complex history.” To remedy this, exhibition walkthroughs have been organized for the Armenian population, such as students of Armenian seminaries in Armonk and Yonkers. According to the Neilsberg Research that uses 2023 Census data, over 1,500 Armenians live in Westchester County, with the largest communities in Rye, Yonkers and Greenburgh, where the village of Hastings-on-Hudson (and consequently Ted & Nune Studio) is located. A general public tour of the exhibition will take place on February 8 at 5pm. A closing reception will also take place on January 31. 

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_{All photos by Ted and Nune. (top to bottom): Bgheno Noravank; Vahanavank; Tatev Monastery}