Hrant Khachatryan is an artist from Yerevan, Armenia, who worked for seven years as a photojournalist before turning to AI-based image and video making around the end of 2022.Their work blends surrealism, memory and Armenian culture, moving between documentary photography and AI-generated visions of dreams, fears and identity.,
Khachatryan studied at the Armenian Academy of Fine Arts before working as a designer and then spending seven years as a photojournalist, documenting political and cultural life in Armenia.Their photo series Everyday Struggle follows the sports school of Yerevan's Olympic training center, founded in 1964 under the Olympic champion Albert Azaryan, where athletes have continued to train on decades-old equipment.In the LUX series, they documented a barbershop of the same name in Gyumri that opened in 1941 and kept operating through the aftermath of an earthquake in which some 17,000 people died in Gyumri alone.
Khachatryan's interest in AI grew around the end of 2022, and after discovering Midjourney they began using it to visualize memories, fears and dreams.In 2024 this became In Between, a series they described as exploring “what happens in my mind when I'm between sleeping and being awake”, drawing on their own struggles with sleep disturbances and fears of losing control while asleep.The series became part of the group show “Post Photographic Perspectives III: Taming The Machine”, presented by Fellowship and curated by Alejandro Cartagena and Niceaunties. The 100-piece collection sold out in 40 minutes, and one work from the series was later printed in Prompt Magazine.
Khachatryan continues to work with AI across still images and video, exploring themes of memory, identity, transformation and Armenian culture.In the animation Me, Myself and I, described by the artist as a self-portrait in essence rather than form, fragmented faces mirror their shifting sense of self as they use AI to expose memories and fears.
