The photographer Sosi Vartanesyan works exclusively in black and white, and all of Sosi’s works are hand printed by the artist on fiber based or art paper, and processed archivally.   Among these unique prints are geometric or abstract photograms inspired by avant-garde constructivists and surrealists such as Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Vassily Kandinsky, and Alexander Rodchenko. Sosi turned to alternative or primitive processes with the nostalgia of finding the soul of the photos of the past. She loves darkroom work and silver printing, which she considers an inherent part of her photographic creation.

 

The recent work of the artist consists of photograms -- an old photographic process which existed since the very beginnings of photography. These unique images created and printed in the darkroom, represent a return to the source, the rejection of modern techniques of photography and the proliferation of images in the 21 st century. Sosi uses recycled, found, cut objects or nature’s artifacts, tiny flowers to create poetic, geometric and organic compositions, capturing the magic of shadow, light, nature and movement, and all this in the heart of the dark room. A camera-less, lens-less photography... A silent symphony, an ode to slow photography.
 

Sosi started creating the botanical photograms in her darkroom during the confinement of 2020 using tiny flowers growing on her balcony. She became fascinated by the inner beauty of these tiny flowers, their invisible universe, and their sensuous, organic and translucent interiors.A way to worship, preserve and eternalize nature.
 

In addition to photograms, her journey includes the use of photographic emulsion that is applied with a brush to various types of surfaces such as art paper and fabrics, instead of traditional fiber based photo paper. This technique renders a special image close to a lithograph or ink painting which is unique since no two can be exactly the same. She has also experimented with a handmade “camera obscura” in her negation of our fast moving society overflowing with zillions of images every day. Her work is about taking one’s time and premeditation.

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The artist is also a trained economist. She attended photography courses at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York city where she was also a teaching assistant. In London, Sosi  attended courses at the Camera Club and Photofusion. She has also attended the photography summer programme of Western Michigan University in Prague as well as completing the trainee programme of the Club Photo Val de Bievre in Paris where she resides. She holds a Ph.D. degree in economics from New York University, a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University, and a B.A. degree in Economics from the Barnard College of Columbia University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She first started to indulge in her passion for photography at the Photography club of Robert College, an elite high school she attended in Istanbul.

 

She has been awarded the Special Jury Award at the Photo Val de Bievre art fair in June 2006 and June 2005, and also the Camera Club Members Award in London in June 2002.

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Sosi Vartanesyan's recent exhibitions include Fotofever Paris, Polka Factory, Voies Off Festival in Arles, Wopart Lugano, Gallerie Martine Moisan Paris. She has first started to exhibit her work in 1991 with a group show at C.B.’s Gallery, New York and her first solo show was at Pictural Café in Paris in April 2002. Her group and solo exhibitions  continued since then mostly at Paris art galleries.

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