A solo exhibit and book signing of Levon Parian”s “Lost Memories” series:
Forty-five years ago, Parian found a large stash of his family slides that had been “destroyed” by a
devastating flood. Taking pictures was the way the family collected memories of their extensive travels.
The Parian family moved over a half dozen times during Levon’s childhood—from Beirut to Detroit to
Chicago then on to Pakistan and Iran. The slides cover the whole sweep of Levon’s childhood.
Recognizing the beauty of the so-called spoiled or “lost” photographs, Parian rescued and fully reimagined
them into vibrant and color-infused individual images and photographic prints. Coupling the
images with texts from his own childhood memories, Parian will also release the work in book form,
similarly called “Lost Memories”. In this series Parian investigates the diasporic movement of his family
as well as classic questions inherent in the photographic medium, such as ephemerality, preservation,
and loss, as well as taking the opportunity to reminisce on his personal memories.
