Jordan Times
Thursday, November 11, 1999
Father, brother, king: The life and legacy of King
Hussein in pictures
By Dima Amr
AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Noor, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses Prince Faisal Ben Hussein and Princess Alia Al Faisal, on Tuesday evening opened a photo exhibition of the life of the late King Hussein compiled by photographer Zohrab Markelian.
“Remembrance and death” on exhibit in the Greater Amman Municipality Building downtown, is in honour of King Hussein's birthday on Nov. 14 and affords an insight into the monarch's private and public lives.
The exhibition comprises more than 160 photographs and is still only a sampling of the numerous pictures taken by Markelian within the last 26 years of King Hussein's life. It shows the King alone, among his people and with his family.
The photos of King Hussein's private life attracted the greatest interest among the visitors, who got to know King Hussein as a loving father and sensitive grandfather.
In some snapshots he could be seen carrying the small princes and princesses around, laughing heartily. In another photo the King was dressed as a cowboy on his son's birthday party surrounded by a group of children costumed as Native American Indians. Several photos also captured King Hussein with his first son and successor, His Majesty King Abdullah. The impression that was created in the visitor's mind was that of a person who loved his family deeply and gave it priority before other things.
Photos of King Hussein's extraordinary public life depict the official and military career of the monarch, who died Feb. 7 after a battle with cancer. They show King Hussein as a ruler and head of the Jordan Armed Forces.
In most photos, he can be seen at official occasions, meeting international, Arab and local political and military personalities.
But King Hussein's most endearing trait — his humanity — is best highlighted in a series of photos showing him in direct contact with his Jordanian family, showing interest in their problems and sufferings. Here the image of a kind patriarch is drawn.
Markelian — known most commonly by his trade name “Zohrab” — has also displayed his personal favourites of the monarch, who ruled Jordan for 46 years.
The photographer has focused on individual photos of the King that illuminate his wide range of talents, interests and responsibilities: reading, eating, racing his car, making phone calls, dressed in uniform and carrying out the routine duties of leadership.
One photo though has a special meaning for Markelian. It shows the King on an official visit to the U.S. standing upright, hands raised in a gesture of apology. During this moment, Markelian says, King Hussein apologised to his entourage for having deprived them of spending Eid Al Adha, one of the two big Islamic festivals, with their families.
“The relation between me and His Majesty was pure love. I loved his looks, his walk and his movements,” photographer Zohrab Markelian told the Jordan Times in an interview.
“I used to take pictures from a distance to get very normal and natural feelings and movements. I watched him and chased him with my camera and in the right moment I took the photo. When you love a person, your camera loves [that person] too,” he added.
Markelian is planning to celebrate the King's birthday with a new exhibition every year.
“I have thousands and thousands of photos and I would like to use them to pay tribute to my King,” says the photographer.
Markelian was born and raised in Jordan. In 1972 King Hussein chose him as his personal photographer. Six years later, in 1978 he sent him to New York to do a full general course in photography.
So far, Markelian has published four collections of photographs and dreams of publishing a fifth about the life of late King Hussein.
The exhibition of Markelian's photographs continues through Sunday.