Back

Documentary Series

Slide #58561
Valery Melnikov

Photographer

Valery Melnikov

Last minutes. Armenian families leave their homes after the war

In the autumn of 2020, the military actions between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and the armed formations of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with the support of Armenia resumed.
The clashes were the longest and bloodiest in the region since the end of the Karabakh war in 1994. The fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia lasted six weeks and ended on November. Many Armenian families had to leave Karabakh and their houses even though the truce was announced.
The exodus of the Armenians that repeated the events of the end of the last century is depicted on the family portraits.

Valery Melnikov

Born in Nevinnomyssk, Valery Melnikov studied journalism in Stavropol, Russia. His photographic career began when he started to work for The North Caucasus newspaper. For ten years he was a staff photographer for Kommersant publishing house and since 2009 for international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.     He has dedicated himself to documenting the political and social life of societies in conflict. Valery’s professional biography includes coverage of Chechen war, conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia, Lebanese war in 2006, uprising of Mali Republic, Syrian civil war. In 2014, Valery began documenting war in Eastern Ukraine. This work continues in his current ongoing project, Black days of Ukraine, about ordinary civil people who became the participants of the military confrontation against their will.    Valery has received many awards for his work, including World Press Photo, Magnum Photography Awards, Pictures of the Year International, Sony World Photography awards, LensCulture Visual Storytelling Awards. His work has been exhibited in France, Austria, Italy, USA, Germany, UK, Russia and other countries. Valery currently lives in Moscow.