Marina Mchitaryan-Lazaridou

Born to an Armenian father and a Greek mother, Dr Marina Mkhitaryan-Lazaridou’s family roots go as deep as her ancestral histories. She shares her identity and the make-up of these lands through her photographic endeavours. “In spirit I am Romany, in heart I am Greek, in prayers Armenian, in mind I am a citizen of the world,” she told The Greek Herald. Looking at her projects alone, you would have thought she grew up studying art. Instead, she completed her studies in Mathematical Physics, before receiving her PhD in 1993. Perhaps more pervasive than her penchant for numbers was her passion for learning. In 1994 Marina found herself in Belgium, working on archaeological research at the University of Ghent, in Belgium. Years later in 2007 she launched into a new passion; documentary style photography. “I decided to use photography and creative writing in order to express my ideas to the fullest. It’s how I transfer my idea into reality, an idea is like a dream. And I am a dreamer,” she said. “I’ll have an idea and sometimes I think, ‘is this even possible to execute?’ Then I remember the words of my mother, ‘Impossible is not in the Hellenic DNA.’ So when I capture these ideas on camera, I come home and I try to shape the universe of my emotions. And when I look at these photographs, they are a reflection of my ideas.” While Marina was living in Armenia, she put together her first photography exhibition.