About

Born to an Armenian family in Damascus - Syria 1984, currently based in Dubai - U.A.E. Nairy Shahinian’s artistic practice approaches photography as a never-ending process of learning and discovery.

Nairy often employs experimental techniques as investigative tools, allowing her to intimately document her immediate surroundings and experiences.

Her knowledge of the medium developed at a young age in the Damascus studio of her late father, Vahe, an established photographer in Syria.

The year 2004, which is when she travelled to Asia, marks the year she started looking at photography in a different light. A certain purpose was born as she was shooting during her travel. This purpose comprised of leaving her personal print wherever she goes and documenting life in a new country that was so appealing to her and very different from what she knew, yet it felt very familiar and made so much sense. Since then, she created the habit of carrying her compact camera around with her wherever she goes and shooting different scenes that appeal to her: landscapes, cityscapes, carvings on buildings, street life, nature, leaves, flowers, the sky or any detail that grabs her attention. Through the viewfinder of her camera, she gained a new method of discovering what’s around her.

Nairy earned a Professional Photography Diploma from the New York Institute of Photography in 2008, and has professionally worked in the creative, technical and back offices of art entities for more than a decade.

Since 2008, she has created several photographic series that have been presented at international art spaces and events. She assisted the filmmaker Ammar al-Beik with his film Kaleidoscope in 2015, as well as other films during that period. Starting in 2020, her work took the form of longer projects where she started combining photography with other media and took a more interactive approach. In recent years, she has also been working on relocating her late father’s photography archive out of Syria, and working as a photographer.

Nairy received an honorable mention award in photography from LICC the London International Creative Competition in 2015, and a third place recognition of merit from Art Ventures International Gallery in February 2024, both on her Alienation Series body of work.