Anush is the son of an iranian refugee.
Anush was conceived in 1979, the year of the Islamic Revolution, in Tabriz during the last journey
his parents took to Iran.
In March 2014, Anush and Vittorio decided to get the closest they could to the country where everything started but where Anush can not go. They stayed one month on the narrow border between Armenia and Iran. For the first time they could see Iran everyday, its mountains, the Aras River and a road that climbs up to the city of Tabriz where everything started and where they both couldn’t go.

Vittorio Mortarotti and Anush Hamzehian have so decided to investigate the claustrophobia and violence of this border town as a metaphor of all frontiers through the story of people crossing the border to reach some freedom, of prostitutes working in night brothels along the road to Iran, of iranian truckers bringing oil to Russia, of miners working in Molibdene mines (that will be used in weapons’ factories), of Russian soldiers who still defend the armenian borders, of teenagers who dream about escaping, of people that for all life long never ever moved from there.

The series of 10 big format photos and the 3 channel video installation realized after their stay in Agarak will be show at Images, the Biennale of Vevey from September 10th to October 2nd in Gran Place 21. For further info please check the Biennale web page.

Alongside with the exhibition, which also won the Leica Prize,  the publishing house Skinnerboox and the Biennale will copublish a book that is part of the project too. Eden was shown for the first time in October 2015 at Art Verona (awarded with the Level 0 prize) and later, in February 2016, at the Blueproject Foundation in Barcelona. We’d also like to remind that Mortarotti’ first solo in Italy was held at Van Der in October 2013.

Eden text in English (by Andrea Dìaz Mattei) – Eden text in Italian (by Stefano Riba)