Aram Balakjian is a documentary photographer and writer from London, UK.


His work has been featured in print, online and on television including for The Guardian, the BBC, Narratively, and The Calvert Journal, as well as in a number of international exhibitions.

Covering an array of subjects, from the deeply personal, to the beautifully familiar, Aram’s work is above all about telling the stories which touch on what it means to be human.

Publications


The New Arab
Feature, Online, August 2020

Narratively
Feature, Online, December 2019

BBC Breakfast
Photos, TV (BBC 1), August 2019

The Guardian
Photos, Print & Online, August 2019

Verge Magazine
Feature, Online, July 2019

The Calvert Journal
Feature, Web, June 2019

Kunsthaus Dresden
Photos, Print, Museum Magazine, May 2019

The Calvert Journal
Feature, Web, April 2019

The Calvert Journal
Feature, Web, January 2019

Fodors
Photo-story, Web, October 2018

Brake Magazine
Feature, Web, February 2018

Ham & High
Obituary, Print, August 22nd, 2017

The Planet D
Photo-story, Web, May 2017

Adventure Bike Rider Magazine
Feature, Print, Nov/Dec 2016 Issue

Exhibitions & Awards


Finalist
Hellerau Photography Awards 2020
for project Dreams of a Life

Group Exhibition “Requiem”
Kunsthause Dresden, sprint 2020
images from project The House

Fourth Place
Hellerau Photography Award 2019
for project The House

Finalist
Hellerau Photography Award 2018
for project In the Presence of Absence

About Aram


Aram was born in London in 1983 to artist parents Dorothea Wight and Marc Balakjian. He studied Computer Animation at the NCCA, graduating in 2006 into his first job at MPC, where he worked on VFX for films such as Narnia and Harry Potter. In 2009, Aram quit film to start his own business: a web design agency which he ran successfully for years, building a client list that included the NHS and the RNIB. However, losing his mother to a rare cancer in 2013 had a profound impact on his ambitions.

In 2015 he wound down his business and boarded a plane to Ukraine, the start of a journey that would last 11 months and span three continents. While blogging about his travels, Aram discovered a love of telling stories through images and words. He returned to London in 2016 to care for his father who had also been diagnosed with terminal cancer. After his father’s death in 2017, Aram began to pursue journalism professionally and now splits his time between travel and his home in London.