Beginning Wednesday, the Armenian Museum of Fresno will offer a glimpse of life for genocide survivors in Fresno through photos, music, and interviews.

The museum’s new exhibit of photography and sound called “Fresno Armenians: 50 Years Ago” will run through Aug. 27, with a reception on Wednesday. The exhibit and the reception are free.

The exhibit features 300 photos from Robby Antoyan, who captured the lives of Armenians as they made Fresno their home. Alongside the photo exhibit is “From the Fields of Fresno,” a compilation of folk music recordings, ambient sounds, and a special interview with an Armenian immigrant.

“This pairing of photography and sound invites visitors to experience Fresno’s Armenian past in deeply emotional and sensory ways,” said Varoujan der Simonian, director of the museum.

Photos, Audio Retell Life for Armenians in Fresno

When Antoyan was in college, studying to become an architect, he set out to document the lives of Armenians aged 60 and up. With his Minolta camera, he captured them in candid poses at church picnics, social clubs, family gatherings, and in everyday moments.

Many of those he photographed lived through the Armenian holocaust perpetrated by the Turkish government.

To Antoyan, the older generations carried themselves “with a quiet authenticity — never trying to be anything other than who they were,” according to the release.

As museum visitors tour the photography, they can also experience life through historical recordings compiled by composer Joseph Bohigian.

In 1939, the Works Progress Administration’s California Folk Music Project catalogued the music and sounds of Armenian people. Bohigian wove the audio along with a 1984 recording of a great-grandmother’s retelling of her journey to America into a recording that will “illustrate the sounds and stories of the community in its earliest decades.”