Arminee Chahbazian
Available Works
Observations of natural phenomena in the landscape, particularly those defining my very remote, undeveloped live and work space, inform many of the spatial and surrealistic images in my work. Likewise, certain patterns and structures sourced from nature inspire the dynamic layering and consequential narrative. My core focus is to interweave natural history with human consciousness, to describe the evolving relationship between my living, breathing self and the land that sustains me.
My imagery is based on an awareness of shifting environments whereby life forms can become strangely displaced. The vast macro scale of the landscape fading in the distance, in tandem with the micro view of its inhabitants jars their natural relationships and an inherent dreaminess emerges. Time feels stopped. In the selection and isolation of each chosen landscape, I strive to address the beauty, drama and reverence that treasured places have inspired in the human experience. Yet, there is a sense that it is all fading away and becoming physically inaccessible and/or evolving into a figment of human imagination. The life forms and structures occupying these places seem out of their element, displaced and hanging on for their survival; a fully realized existence occupies a knife’s edge.
The duality of being displaced can illicit a sense of loss or despair, while simultaneously offering a thread of hope. Through carefully layered presentations, these slow-paced narratives are intended to inspire quiet contemplation, to illuminate changing realities and to give voice to the alteration of planet earth.