Photos of We Are Our Mountains Monument
About We Are Our Mountains Monument
We Are Our Mountains is an imposing pair of giant heads carved from red volcanic rock sitting all alone on a hilltop at the north edge of Khankendi (Stepanakert). The sculptures show an old woman with her headscarf pulled across her mouth and a bearded old man beside her and are a monument to the Armenian mountain people of Karabakh. They were carefully built from stacked blocks and you can still see each individual one. Over the years they have lovingly become Tatik and Papik, Grandma and Grandpa. The heads sit directly on the ground, so from below you can both faces sit directly against open sky, with the block joints, deep eye sockets, and the braided edge of Grandma's headdress keeping all their details. Walking up to shoot from the base lets you highlight just one face filling the entire frame. Low, soft light spreads nicely across the faces, dropping a shadow into every joint and turns the whole surface a warm brick orange, so the last hour of the day is the best time to be here. There is lots of parking at the foot of the hill and you can explore the grounds to experiment with finding just the right shooting angles. Because Khankendi is in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan all foreign visitors need a permit issued in advance before travelling out here. (Khankendi, Karabakh, Azerbaijan)
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