Reminders Photography Stronghold is a new multicentre dedicated to photography in Tokyo, founded by Masaru and Yumi Goto in 2012.
In its first year, RPS has organized several activities exhibitions, slideshows, photobook presentations and workshops. Another project is an annual grant which proposes two prizes: an exhibition and a residency program.
The first edition of the grant has been won by Armenian photographer Diana Markosian whose awarded work “Goodbye My Chechnya” is showing since April 13.
Here is a note that I wrote for introducing the series as member of the jury:
“Around 500 years ago, Islam arrived in the North Caucasus, but this religion and its traditions was repressed during the Tzarist era and then by the Russian Communism. Today Chechnya is a federal republic that wants and needs to show what was banned and forced to be hidden. Chechnya now proclaim its Islamic identity . The traditions and restrictions of the Muslim culture are now part of the country daily life. Traditions imposed by the new ruling class, both political and religious, endorsed by the young Chechen Republic President, Ramzan Kadyrov. Muslim traditions are also adopted by many,like this young girl called Seda Makhagieva .
Seda, 15 years old, has fought many times against her parents because she wanted to wear the hijab, breaking from her family’s and Chechen’s tradition. Like Seda, part of the Chechen youth are quickly embracing Islam and its social rules as one of the consequences of decades of religious repression in the Soviet Union. But other young Chechen are fighting against the news Islamic codes.
In a new country like Chechnya, the sudden rebuilding of a religious system could be the cause of other problems, such as fewer rights for women. Diana Markosian decided to investigate , but first experienced life in the country , then documented it. She met young girls who have chosen to follow the Islamic rules, but also met many Muslim girls who have experienced violence, verbal and physical, losing their innocence through bridal kidnapping or forced marriage.
Diana Markosian has revealed, with respect and love, an intimate and tragic world lived by young women who are passing from childhood to maturity. The final result is an essential window on this world that should not be forgotten. Diana work was difficult, she was followed by federal security forces, detained several times and many images from her story have been deleted.
Diana Markosian is a documentary photographer and writer, her reporting has taken her from Russia’s North Caucasus mountains, to the ancient Silk Road in Tajikistan and overland to the remote Wakhan Corridor in northeastern Afghanistan. She holds a masters from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Markosian’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Sunday Times Magazine, Foreign Policy, Foto8, Time.com, The London Times, Boston Globe, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, amongst others.
Eliseo Barbàra
MoST Artists
Goodbye My Chechnya
Diana Markosian
First winner of RPS Wall Grant
April 13 – April 30, 2013
Reminders Photography Stronghold Gallery
131-0032, 2-38-5, Higashi-mukojima
Sumida-ku
Tokyo
Japan
