Synopses & Reviews
The story of the Armenians has always been one of upheaval. For the past three thousand years, waves of migrants left their ancestral homes in Eastern Turkey and Northern Syria, following ancient trade and pilgrimage routes and fleeing countless revolutions, civil wars, and massacres. Despite these centuries of displacement, however, today's Armenian diaspora is strong and vibrantwith eight million Armenians living in over 85 countries across the globe. In The Is Only the Earth, photographer Scout Tufankjian creates a portrait of the global Armenian community as it exists today. Through nearly 200 breathtaking full-color images and short interviews with Armenians around the world, Tufankjian shows how Armenians have thrivedhow they have rebuilt their communities, how their families have remained linked, and how they have maintained their identity despite the pressures of assimilation.
Review
"Scout Tufankjian has created a glorious celebration of the Armenian experience in her exhaustive documentation of the diaspora. Armenia and Armenians have survived to be a major presence in the modern world, and Tufankjian has captured it all."
Eric Bogosian, author of Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot That Avenged the Armenian Genocide
"This book is a wonder: a poignant, powerful, beautiful testimony to the breadth of the Armenian heart and the resiliency of the Armenian spiritperhaps even the human spirit. We may be a diaspora people, almost all of us descendants of a cataclysmic genocide. But in her moving, luminescent photographs, Scout Tufankjian reminds us what it means to live. Our schools, our stories, our very soul come alive in these images. I felt not merely love for my people in this book: I felt pride."
Chris Bohjalian author of The Sandcastle Girls
"Remarkable photography and amazing stories of a fascinating people: this book is a must for anyone who knows, or cares to know about, the far-flung and multifaceted Armenian diaspora."
John Marshall Evans, former US Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia
"Scout Tufankjian circles the globe capturing emblematic moments in the lives of Armenians. Her beautiful photographs are a moving testament to both the powerful thread of identity and the fertile adventure of diaspora and diversity. In this, the one-hundredth year since the Armenian Genocide, Tufankjian's photographs serve as neither commemoration nor consolation, but rather as exploration and celebration of the resiliency and vibrancy of a people still in the process of finding their place in history and in the world.
Nancy Kricorian, activist and author of Zabelle and All the Light There Was
Synopsis
The story of the Armenians has always been one of upheaval. For the past three thousand years, waves of immigrants left their homesfollowing ancient trade and pilgrimage routes, driven out by the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and fleeing countless wars, revolutions, and massacres.
Despite this history of exile, today's Armenian diaspora is strong and vibrantwith over eight million Armenians living in more than eighty-five countries across the globe. The story of these survivors, however, has been largely untold. Until now.
With more than 160 photographs, this book is a beautiful and loving portrait of the global Armenian community captured in joyful detail by an exceptional photographerhighlighting this ancient community's strength, versatility, and ability to survive."