#April24 #WeRemember

April 23, 2013

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Personally, I don’t feel too comfortable taking pictures of human remains.  I don’t have anything against those who do, given the context of the images, but for me, I just get uncomfortable.  I feel like that’s a person there, and I don’t have their permission and I would just avoid it.  Don’t get me wrong, when I come across images of skulls and such, I’m mesmerized, as most others would be.

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But with April 24 approaching, and finding myself in Lebanon today (April 23), I had to visit the Vank (Tomb/Shrine) in Antelias. 

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Since I was young, we were shown images from the genocide.  Black and white photos from 1915 of the atrocities that are denied to this day by the Turkish government.  Graphic images of people, Armenians, men, women, and children who were massacred by the Ottoman Empire. One-point-five million people.  Gone.

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Today, these same images are still being passed around.  I went to the Vank in Antelias today because I wanted to show people that these aren’t just old pictures.  These are living. breathing. bones. Waiting.  For some sort of recognition that they were wronged.  Recognition from those who wronged them.

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For peace.

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For closure.

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For rest.

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They are more than pictures.  They are lives that were lost.  And we remember.

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For more information about the Armenian Genocide:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide
(google offers a variety of sites with information as well)

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Click images to enlarge