Silver Stains: A Persistent Archive of Haunting Images

Vartan Avakian  |  Visual Arts  |  2025  |  Lebanon
Silver Stains: A Persistent Archive of Haunting Images is an exhibition and accompanying art book that presents a state archive documenting the earliest use of photography as a tool of genocide. It reveals how this emerging technology was a precursor to modern surveillance technologies that are weaponized to monitor, categorize and control populations. The project preserves these fragile images, decolonizes the archive and re-materializes it for public witnessing and resistance.