Diana Markosian

Diana Markosian, Magnum Photos

Pura rides around her neighborhood in a pink 1950s convertible, as the community gathers to celebrate her fifteenth birthday, in Havana, Cuba, on 6 August 2018.

A girl’s quinceañera (fifteenth birthday) is a Latino coming-of-age tradition marking transition into womanhood. It is a gender specific rite of passage, traditionally showcasing a girl’s purity and readiness for marriage. Families go to great expense, often celebrating with a lavish party. The girl dresses as a princess, living out a fantasy and perceived idea of femininity. In Cuba, the tradition has transformed into a performance involving photo and video shoots, often documented in a photobook. Pura’s quinceañera had a special poignancy, as some years earlier, having been diagnosed with a brain tumor, she was told she would not live beyond the age of 13.

Diana Markosian takes an intimate approach to her photography and video storytelling, in work that is both conceptual and documentary. By encapsulating different styles and mediums, Markosian has created a unique approach to image making. Her first monograph, Santa Barbara, was published by Aperture and selected as the book of the year by MoMA and Time Magazine. Markosian has exhibited in leading museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography in New York, and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Her new monograph, Father, was chosen as the photobook of the year by Le Monde Magazine. She is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Vogue and The New Yorker. Markosian holds a masters degree from Columbia University.