Diana Markosian. Santa Barbara

March 17th - August 27th, 2023

Fotografiska Stockholm

By WAC I 4 MAY 2023

Fotografiska believes that photography is an inclusive medium with a unique ability to shape emotions, convey stories and motivate change. And it demonstrates this with the programming it offers in its different venues: Berlin, Miami, Shanghai, Tallinn, New York and Stockholm.

Precisely in the city that concerns us: Stockholm, it is hosting the project Santa Barbara, by the photographer and filmmaker Diana Markosian, with which she explores the natural order of the family and the American dream. She creates her own world through a series of staged photographs and a narrative video, in such a way that she reconsiders her family history from her mother's perspective.

Markosian's family swapped life in Moscow for California when she was seven years old. “The year was 1996. The Soviet Union had long collapsed, and by then, so had my family. We left without saying goodbye to my father, and the next day landed in a new world: America”.

Markosian reconstructs the last days in post-Soviet Russia and her family's arrival in the United States. A powerful examination of the interplay between the idealised vision of Californian life portrayed on television and the reality of the immigrant experience. Santa Barbara tests and challenges the boundaries of truth, fiction, documentary and memory.

The Santa Barbara’s exhibition is organised by the International Center of Photography, in collaboration with FOMU and Filles du Calvaire. The project was first exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

DIANA MARKOSIAN

At the forefront of a new generation of photographers, pushing the boundaries of documentary storytelling. By encapsulating different styles and mediums, Markosian has created a unique approach to image making. Her first monograph, Santa Barbara was published by Aperture and selected by Time Magazine and MoMa as the top photo book of the year. Her work is represented by Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire (Paris) and Rose Gallery (Los Angeles). She is a regular contributor to Vogue, National Geographic Magazine and Time.

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