Diana Markosian is a Russian-American photographer of Armenian descent, born in 1989 in Moscow, Russia. She holds a Master of Science from Columbia University in New York. Her work explores memory and identity through an interdisciplinary process combining photography, video, and archival materials. Her practice moves between documentary and poetic storytelling, weaving together personal experiences and collective narratives.
Across her body of work, Diana Markosian develops a sensitive reflection on memory and transmission, where personal history becomes a space for universal projection.
Her series Santa Barbara traces the story of her mother, who left Russia for the United States with her children in the 1990s, leaving behind her husband. The project combines photographs, videos, and personal archives to explore the effects of this family separation and exile on identity and memory. The exhibition resulting from this project was presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2020, the International Center of Photography in New York in 2021, FOMU in Antwerp in 2022, and Fotografiska Stockholm in 2023.
In 2024, her series Father presents an intimate investigation into absence, lineage, and the reconstruction of family bonds. This project has been part of a traveling exhibition, including at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2024–2025, FOAM in Amsterdam in 2025, and the Rencontres d’Arles in 2025, where it received the Prix de la Photo Madame Figaro. In 2026, Father continues its international tour at the Armenian Museum in Watertown, Fotografiska Stockholm, and the Museum of Australian Photography in Melbourne.
Her photographs have been published in international magazines such as National Geographic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. She has received numerous awards, including a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the World Press Photo Award, the Magnum Foundation Fund Grant, the Elliott Erwitt Foundation Fellowship, the Chris Hondros Fund Award, the Firecracker Grant, and the Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Fund.