Artists Ted & Nune Photograph Centuries Old Armenian Monasteries

Some cloisters date back as far as the 4th Century.

Several sites documented for the project were annexed by Azerbaijan in 2020.

“We will likely never see these buildings again in our lifetimes,” Nune says. “And there’s no guarantee the Azerbaijani’s won’t destroy them.” 

Fighting in the region persists to this day.

Ted and Nune are a photographic team who journey to remote lands to make studies of architecture and industry, bringing a joint male-female point of view to their shared vision. 

Nune was born and raised in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic where she lived until 2005. Her husband Ted, a born and bred New Yorker, is also of Armenia descent; three of his grandparents escaped Turkey during the time of the Hamidian massacres (1894-1896), when between 100,000-300,000 Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman empire. Although the massacres were aimed mainly at the Armenians, in some cases they turned into indiscriminate anti-Christian genocide. During the Diyarbekir massacres, up to 25,000 Assyrians were also killed along side Armenians.

Ted’s grandparents eventually made their way to the United States to start a new life in America.

“Armenians are builders by nature. As a child, my father, who was an architect, took me to many sites around the county to educate me about the heritage of our people,” Nune recalls.  

Also an architect, Ted’s grandfather designed and oversaw the building of the Armenia Church of the Holy Martyrs in Bayside, Long Island. 

Their shared love of architecture and cultural ties to Armenia led the artists to begin documenting ancient Armenian monasteries in 2015 in a project entitled Stone and Candle, which will culminate in a forthcoming photo-book, due out in March 2023.  

The project features stunning images of the earliest Christian monasteries in the world, some dating back as far as 4th Century AD. These buildings were once centers of education where art and science flourished, and in whose scriptoriums monks created beautiful illuminated manuscripts. In contrast to these richly ornamented texts, the structures themselves are unadorned, stern— built primarily in remote areas at the tops of mountains, within deep gorges, at the edges of cliffs— and inside caves, far from the war-ridden roads of civilization. This was, of course, on purpose. For centuries, the history of Armenia has been laden with conflict. Conflict that endures to this very day. 

In February of 2020, right before Covid hit, Ted and Nune were in Armenia documenting monasteries for Stone and Candle and were compelled to return to the States early due to fears of traveling during the pandemic. Later that year, the 44 Day War, also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh war, broke out in the very region that they had been working. The conflict resulted in Azerbaijan’s victory, forcing a peace-treaty between the two countries that was unfavorable to the Armenian people.

Large swaths of Armenian land have since been annexed by neighboring Azerbaijan. Four of the monasteries the artists documented in 2020— located in the region of Artsakh, are now considered to be Azerbaijan territory.

“We will likely never see these buildings again in our lifetimes,” Nune says. “And there’s no guarantee the Azerbaijani’s won’t destroy them.” 

Today, fighting persists throughout these disputed territories and Armenia is once again contending with the threat of cultural genocide at the hands of Azerbaijan. With the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine occupying the world's attention, the situation in Armenia has not received as much consideration nor support. 

Combat is something Nune is unfortunately all too familiar with, having survived many Armenia conflicts before immigrating to the United States. Yet, she fears this time it could be even worse. For Ted and Nune, the situation in Armenia intensifies the significance of Stone and Candle.

“We have dedicated ourselves to this project because we want to make sure that Armenian culture is not erased from the face of the earth. We are far from alone in our desire to contribute to this cause. Many are concerned about this. Our hope [with Stone and Candle] is to help preserve this history before it’s too late,” Nune says. “And to share it with the world so that it is not lost.”  

Sadly, Nune’s concerns are warrented.

A 2019 report from an investigation completed by affiliate scholars at Cornell and Purdue universities revealed astounding destruction at the hands of Azerbaijan. 89 medieval churches, 5,840 intricate cross-stones, and 22,000 tombstones are among the sites eradicated with unparralled surgical precision, according to the authors of the report.

Bombing next to her hometown of Kapan leaves her horrified for the future of the region. “I’m terrified that the next time I return to my home town, it will no longer be in Armenia– but rather Azerbaijan.” 

Sanctions against Russian and major supply-chain disruptions due to the conflict in Ukraine have rendered Europe hyper-dependent on oil from Azerbaijan, thereby providing financial support to the atrocities being committed against Armenians at the hands of the Azerbaijani government. 

Nune says, “The world is focused on Ukraine, and rightly so for what Russia is doing to them. But Azerbaijan occupies internationally recognized Armenian land, and threatens to move further. Like Russia, Azerbaijan is capable of performing genocide on the Armenian people. We fear what can happen. Azerbaijan and Turkey are ‘brother’ countries and share the same rhetoric and politics of armenophobia. We hope to bring some attention to this fact.``