Skip to contentHrair Sarkissian

Last Seen

Last Seen
2018-2021

Series of 50 archival inkjet prints, embossed.

40x50cm each. 

Commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation. 

 

Last Seen deals with the ambiguous loss that occurs when people disappear during times of war or civil unrest. Without any clear evidence proving death, the ones left behind are unable to grieve, holding on to the chance of their missing loved ones returning. 

The photographs are of the place where the missing person was last seen by their families. Each frame is furthermore embossed with the disappeared person’s name and the year they vanished. There is a fine line between presence and absence in these locations, embodying the notion that these events are memorised in the physicality of a space. Each picture in turn functions as an anti-monument and archive for the victims and their families. The project was realised in Lebanon, Brazil, Argentina, Kosovo and Bosnia.