Nubar Alexanian

Nubar Alexanian (born 1950) is a documentary photographer. For the past 40 years he has travelled to more than 30 countries focusing on long term personal projects which describe the human condition. He has published several books of photographs, showing Peru, musicians, and the film sets of Errol Morris among others.

Alexanian's company Walker Creek Media was created in 2006 and produces short documentary films for non-profit organizations.  

Early life and education

Nubar Alexanian was born in 1950 in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the second of four children and was prized as the first son in an orthodox Armenian family. He was the grandson of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and grew up speaking Armenian with his grandfather who lived in the apartment upstairs, only learning English upon entering elementary school.

Alexanian was the first in his family to go to college. He attended Boston University for two years in the thick of the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, and it was then that he first began taking pictures in an effort to understand and describe what he saw. Alexanian explains, "a camera gives you the license to do almost anything. I picked up a camera as a way of getting closer to what was happening in Boston during that era." He describes "the power of photography" as an act of witness: a way to observe the world up close, in a personal way. When describing himself as a student and a budding photographer in a competitive field, Alexanian credits growing up in a working-class family with giving him the motivation and work ethic to succeed as a photographer.

After two years at BU, Alexanian took time off to attend and teach at the New England School of Photography. He then left photography school and later became a member of the first class in the University Without Walls program at the University of Massachusetts, where he got credit for teaching at the New England School of Photography from 1973-1974. He graduated in 1974 with a BA in Liberal Arts.

Teaching

After his time as an instructor at the Art Institute of Boston (1972–1974) and at the New England School of Photography (1973–1975), in 1975 Alexanian co-founded the Essex Photographic Workshop, one of the first residential photographic programs in the U.S., in Essex, Massachusetts. He since has conducted workshops and given lectures all over the world, including at the International Center of Photography in New York City and the Gaudí School of Photography in Peru. More recently, he has facilitated critique groups in the Boston area for photographers who are working on long-term personal projects.

Books

Alexanian's first trip out of the country was to Peru in 1974. From 1978 to 1989 he traveled extensively to Peru documenting the life and culture of the [Andean] people. He received a Fulbright Artist Fellowship in 1983 to continue his work in Peru, allowing him to live and work there for six months. The culmination of this work, Stones in the Road: Photographs of Peru (Aperture), documents the migration of the Andean culture from the mountains to the shanty towns in and around Lima, one of the many tragedies caused by civil war and a growing illegal drug industry.

In 1996 Alexanian published his first major color project, the book Where Music Comes From (Dewi Lewis). Five years in the making, this documents the creative processes of 25 musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Philip Glass, Emmylou Harris, and Paul Simon, among others.

After traveling extensively for Stones in the Road and Where Music Comes from, Alexanian turned toward his own town, Gloucester, Massachusetts, for his book Gloucester Photographs (Walker Creek Press).

In 2002, in collaboration with Wynton Marsalis, Alexanian published Jazz (Walker Creek Press), a collection of images and quotations that illustrate the musical conversation between Marsalis and his audience.

In 2005, Alexanian shot fifty portraits for a book, This I Believe, related to a radio series with the same title.

Alexanian's fifth book, Nonfiction: Photographs by Nubar Alexanian from the Film Sets of Errol Morris, released by Walker Creek Press in the spring of 2008, is a long-term collaboration with Errol Morris, comprising stills from the sets[1] of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control, Mr. Death, and Standard Operating Procedure, among others.[2]

Films
  • The Clifford Ball (1994) – co-director of a documentary film about the band Phish that aired on MTV. 30 minutes.
  • The Professor of Swing (1998) – cinematic portrait of Wynton Marsalis, work in progress.
  • Flamenco Shorts (2004) – director and director of photography, shot in HD on sound stage in Halifax, Nova Scotia, four short films of flamenco performances.
  • Flamenco Nuevo (2007) – director and director of photography, four camera HD, shot in Spain about a flamenco troupe. 90 minutes.

Radio

Perfect Hearing, a radio documentary about tinnitus and hearing loss, produced by Nubar Alexanian and Abby Alexanian, with Jay Allison. Aired in February 2004 on This American Life.

Solo exhibitions
  • 1973 Panopticon Gallery, Boston
  • 1973 Gallery One, New England School of Photography
  • 1976 University of Vermont (two man)
  • 1978 Soho Gallery, New York (two man)
  • 1983 Nov. William Klein Gallery, Boston; World's Apart: Photographs of Peru
  • 1992 November, Casa Cabrera, Cuzco, Peru.
  • 1992 August, Centro Cultural de la Municipalidad de Miraflores, Lima Peru
  • 1992 March, Centro Cultural de l'Universidad de Arequipa, Peru
  • 1993 May, Panopticon Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1993 March, The Burden Gallery, Aperture Foundation New York
  • 1992-1993 Traveling exhibition of Photographs of Peru in England
  • 1997 Leica Gallery, Two Person Show
  • 2001 November–January 2002 Cape Ann Museum, Main Gallery
  • 2002 Retrospective, Panopticon Gallery
  • 2007 October, Standard Operating Procedure, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
  • 2008 March, Standard Operating Procedure, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  • 2008 May, Standard Operating Procedure, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York.
  • 2008 May, Standard Operating Procedure, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Collections

Awards and grants
  • 1983: Polaroid Instant Art Campaign: Annie Leibovitz, Alexanian, Pete Turner, David Bailey, and Sandy Fellman.
  • 1982: Andy Award of Excellence, New York Art Director's Club
  • 1983: Fulbright Artist Fellowship for photography in Peru
  • 1984: Gold Medal Award, New York Film and Television Festival for photography
  • 1990: Finalist, W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant, W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund
  • 1999: Bruce J. Anderson Grant
  • 2000: Gloucester Arts Council Grant
  • 2004: Third Coast Festival Award, Perfect Hearing Best Radio Documentary Honorable Mention

References
  1. "Walker Art Center Presents Special Advance Screening of Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure on April 15; Scheduled Screening of Miloš Forman's The Firemen's Ball Moved to April 16". Walker Art Center. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  2. "Nubar Alexanian". BFI. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  3. https://www.capeannmuseum.org/media/2016_cam_annual_report.pdf
  4. https://www.capeannmuseum.org/media/2017_annual_report_05-20-18.pdf
  5. "Nubar Alexanian". Center for Creative Photography. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  6. "BnF Catalogue général". catalogue.bnf.fr. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
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