Joseph Zakarian, The Outspoken Artist and Outstanding Researcher
Just like how Picasso fractured the two-dimensional picture and abolished the traditional techniques of perspective by its juxtaposition of all the facets of its subject onto one flat canvas, Joseph Zakarian’s incredible life journey interlaces not one, not two, but four different fields with one another to ultimately paint a portrait of a self-made multidisciplinary artist.
Development researcher, enthusiastic DJ, passionate filmmaker, and imaginative photojournalist Joseph Zakarian is the Jack of All Trades to rule them all.
Brave Beginnings & The Journey to Armenia
Born in Jordan to an Armenian father and a half-Armenian, half-Assyrian mother, Joseph was thrown into life’s most tremendous uncertainties and challenges at only 16 years old when his father had decided he didn’t want his son to live a ‘fluffy’ life and sent him off to fend for himself in Armenia.
Though it wasn’t an easy ride, as Joseph admits how difficult things were at first, how he had problems with the people, the country, and the mentality, he eventually rose to the challenge. He emerged from the other end the accomplished self-made man he is today.
Shortly after moving to Armenia, Joseph went back to Jordan, where he got into theater and decided to continue his studies in film. Later, he returned to Armenia at the age of 19, where he studied at a film school and DJed on the side.
Now, Joseph is best known as The Beast from The Middle East in the festivals’ arena after taking what first seemed like a fun hobby and turning it into a sustainable passion and a side-hustle.
Despite his many travels to South Africa, England, the Middle East, and The US, Joseph kept feeling homesick and realized, during a stay at his brother’s in LA, how much he missed Armenia and its culture and decided to come back for good, sacrificing a comfortable life in favor of another, far more honest and true to his person.
Joseph, The Outspoken Artist
The Caucasus Media Institute trained camera lens of Joseph Zakarian seems to have taken on the mission of beautifully reflecting the artist’s pride and devotion to his Armenian and Jordanian roots.
At times, his portfolio would mirror the everyday lives of those with whom he feels a strong kinship, depicting, for example, butcher and ice cream shops in both his home and his birth countries, other times; it portrays Armenia’s history and the struggle of its people in remembrance.
His photographs’ black and white hues symbolize the nostalgia the talented photojournalist must be feeling towards his own heritage.
–Joseph Zakarian
Joseph’s work can be found in internationally acclaimed publications, including Newsweek RU, One Magazine NY, IEEE Magazine NY, and the famous Russian magazine Ogonek.
The Lovechild of Art and Science, The Researcher
As the offspring of an artistic soul and a science-driven one, Joseph learned at an early age how to be authentic and have the courage needed to ask hard-hitting questions.
While his love for the arts has given him the freedom to question everything and to always think outside the box, the research lab his father offered him at only ten years old helped Joseph push further the boundaries of his curiosity; however, this time, in a rather disciplined and methodical way.
Today, Joseph resides in Dilijan and is working at the Fab Lab Armenia Education Foundation as the head of the research, development, and engineering part of the operations. Working with a team of people with very different backgrounds and expertise to support innovators of all ages and aspects of life to bring their ideas to reality at the Fab Lab and eventually introduce it to the world if they ever wish to do so.
As someone who believes in the importance of research as an outline to any body of work that aims for success, moreover, he believes in the power of asking the right questions to advance the learning process further, transforming it into a journey of discovery, growth, and change. Joseph’s role at the Fab Lab is not only to help with the research and blur the lines between what can and can’t be achieved but also to nurture creativity and innovation.
His background as an artist and as an Alumni of the Fab Academy allows him to seek ideas where no one has dared look before.
Thus, giving him the opportunity to join this new wave of independent researchers who are helping discover new perspectives and approaches coming from cultures, arts, and ideas that were not in the mainstream. This amalgam of brilliant and innovative minds creates unexpected collaborations with people from all walks of life, with whom conducting research on any topic breaks down barriers of prejudice, making the impossible possible again.
Fab Labs, a turning point in Armenia
The Fab Labs’ role in all of this is to give voice to those sometimes unheard and yet to be discovered researchers and innovators by creating the space needed for their ideas to blossom and flourish into the prototypes of products, tools, machines, and materials that are bound to spark positive change in the world.
–Joseph Zakarian
Established in 2015 and part of FabAcademy course since 2019, Fab Lab Armenia Education Foundation is a safe haven that offers access to modern digital manufacturing technologies, with open source software, to the “One Nation, One Culture” citizens, which is at its very core a chance to innovate and make the world a better place.
Working alongside Fab Lab Armenia Education Foundation, Joseph has adopted the noble purpose of bringing his ideas into reality in hopes that they can help him return the knowledge he has acquired over the years back to the community by developing solutions and creating new jobs.
His love for research, which he believes is a motivator that gives meaning to life, along with his passion for art and music, make Joseph Zakarian a prominent name boldly engraved on the ever-growing and never-stopping wheel of change.
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