Armenian Bride

Let me present an image I discovered about 18 months ago. 

I posted this photograph on FB when we had only about 20 members. 

It's an image which intrigues me from many different points of view...  

I find this image absolutely engrossing from many ways of thinking, not just about the photography. Yes, I think it is a classic photograph, but I wonder if it was done for an actual wedding , or whether it was created as part of a photo-shoot for traditional Armenian jewelry. Either way, it works exceptionally well.

I love the fact that it's a profile rather than full face front-on view. There is a companion image on the net which is front-on, but it has no appeal for me. Well, it's interesting but not as powerful for me. Not as intriguing.

This particular images makes me wonder about so many things. It was the first time in years that any image struck me so hard about marriage traditions in other cultures. The idea that the bride must be decked out in lavish jewelry as part of the "deal" between the families, probably rich and powerful families, an arranged marriage designed to suit the political social needs of the two families more than the two individuals being married.

Then there is the resignation. This young woman's expression is one of total resignation, acceptance of her lot. Once more this reminds me of the weddings of my sisters in a Lebanese /Armenian suburban situation in Melbourne about 40 - 50 years ago, but I don't wish to focus on that. It also reminds me of the wedding in "Pather Panchali" a magical film by Satyagit Ray, where the young girl Durga watches her teenage friend being prepared for a marriage which Durga will never experience for herself.

It raises the idea of countless millions of marriages of young girls in every culture over all epochs who had no say in the choice their family made for their life partner, many of which would have been considered "successful" arrangements, but also many calamities along the away.

So for me this image has a power which I usually reserve for certain "icons". If you see this image in the page of wedding photos from which I selected it, it stands apart, it jumps out of the page.

 

I'm adding a short Youtube video I discovered which I posted so long ago... it comes with a few minutes of mysterious "duduk" music. 

"Duduk means “apricot-made wind instrument”, it's an ancient Armenian double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood. It is indigenous to Armenia.

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