«Անհասանելի կատարելություն» - հարցազրույց Կատյա Բոյաջյանի հետ

Diana Stepanyan's article is devoted to an interview with the photo-artist Katia Boyadjian, a representative of the well-known dynasty of Armenian photographers from Egypt, who lives and works in France. The material reveals the author's creative path, her aesthetic principles, and her attitude toward Armenian identity.

Introduction and biographical context

The author presents Katia Boyadjian as the daughter of a French dancer and an Armenian photographer from Cilicia, and the niece of the famous Cairo photographer Van Leo. Born in Cairo in 1958, the heroine emigrated to France with her family after the political shift under Nasser. Her professional path in photography was determined not by family tradition but by her encounter with the artist and sculptor Daniel Jouret, who became her life companion and creative partner.

Key position: the concept of perfection in art

The central theme of the conversation is the author's own concept of perfection, which Boyadjian defines as:

a phenomenon that cannot be deliberately sought, arising "by oversight, by chance";
a category alien to total control and, in the heroine's thinking, linked to totalitarian aspirations;
an anonymous quality by nature, revealed through the emotionality and inspiration of the moment.

The contrast between generational creative strategies

A separate part of the interview is devoted to Katia Boyadjian's conscious break with the aesthetics of her father and uncle, who, in their photographs of celebrities, strove for glossy flawlessness as a form of compensation for the trauma of the Genocide. In contrast, the heroine turns to themes of old age, nursing homes, everyday life, and authenticity, calling her work a "reconquest of the world" from contemporary barbarism, which disdains the beauty of decline.

Creative tandem and the technique of hand-colored photography

The specifics of the collaborative work with Daniel Jouret are revealed, described as a complementary union without hierarchy between the partners. Separately, the article addresses the origins of the technique of coloring photographs with oil paint, which traces back to the practice of the heroine's father in Cairo and was further developed in the cycle "Journey to Armenia."

The Armenian theme and questions of identity

Considerable attention is given to reflection on Armenian identity as something inscribed "in the genes," yet requiring time and the opening of borders after the collapse of the USSR in order to be fully lived. The trip to Armenia is described as an experience of discovering a country close in spirit to the European reality of the 1950s, while maintaining a distance in the perception of the local public.

Conclusion

The key conclusion of the interview lies in understanding photography as a poetic act of resistance to moral degradation and the dissolution of identity through the affirmation of authenticity and difference. Boyadjian notes the general decline of contemporary visual art, subordinated to commercial logic, contrasting it with her own practice as a form of preserving human dignity and memory.