Here, in Alex Nazari’s gripping photographs, is the LADA, in all its vivid beauty, resilience and palatial influence. A Russian made, Soviet-era vehicle that arrived to Armenia in the 1970s.

This book is a hybrid documentation of life in Armenia and conversation that ties in a vehicle that has been a predominant part of society from Soviet times to today.

LADA marks the end of a four year long project for Nazari. The images are a collection of 40 of his photographs taken on medium format film that he hand printed in the darkroom and later individually digitized.

October 2017 Nazari was invited to Yerevan, Armenia to teach a filmmaking workshop at TUMO, a non-profit after school program. It was the first time a member of his family would be visiting their homeland since his ancestors fled from genocide during WWI. After WWI, Armenia was taken under Soviet rule until the 1990s.

The effects of cultural suppression and tumultuous wars in the region were evident upon arrival and Nazari understood these new surroundings would inform his work in a very different way.

Riding around the city he began to notice a Soviet car called the Lada. Unfamiliar to most people outside of Ex-Soviet states due to its unavailability, he was enamored by its significance to the society. The effects of Soviet rule were strongly embedded in Armenian culture its current dependency on it. So he began to document intimate and introspective everyday life moments through the Lada.

In November 2021, after another war between Armenia and its Post-Soviet neighbor, he returned to a small city called Gyumri to teach a photography workshop at the same free of charge after school program and to finish his photo series with the talented young students who attend TUMO Center.

With these heartfelt photographs, Nazari tells a story that is personal, and that is rarely discussed. As a son of immigrants, reclaiming ownership of the narrative and its representation feels particularly powerful and important.

It’s Nice That