Photo: In the yard of the war-torn house, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. In the aftermath of the war (2020). January 2021.

ORPHANS OF WAR

Every war is a war against children. 

Eglantyne Jebb

 In January 2021 I shot the war-torn house ruins in Stepanakert. In the yard there were children's slippers, a suitcase with dried-up newspapers and a toy bear. I immediately shot the suitcase because it was associated with the Armenian Fate of fleeing homeland, being a refugee. Life in one suitcase...an expressive name for a theater play. A new report from Save the Children (2021) reveals that 'nearly 200 million children are living in the world's most lethal war zones'. The most painful is to see uncared children in conflict-ridden zones. It reminds me of 1915.

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My last pilgrimage to Artsakh was in July 2022. I visited Aghavno village on the Lord's Transfiguration Feast. 

Usually Armenian children participate in Vardavar, the Water festival. I was not afraid to get wet. Most important was to feel the spirit of belonging to this sacred land called Artsakh. The head of the village administration, Andranik Chavushian, was confident that they would not leave their village despite the political announcement to free the settlement by the 25th of August 2022. The Lachin Corridor, Berdzor, Agavno and Nerkin Sus will be surrendered to Azerbaijan. However, while looking at the playing children, the organized Food Fair, I did not doubt that the village would be handed over. The water-colored guns created the mood of playing in war. In such moments I do not understand where lies human imagination and where lies reality, the border separating reality and imagination is very fragile. I remember Rizhik, the village dog, who kindly accompanied all the guests. The copper-skinned dog was very alive, and the playing children were watering the animal as well. Everyone was participating in Vardavar. Aghavno river was silent, trying to store funny memories. The word 'last' sounds like the word 'war' in this context. That is why we always try to keep the image of reality in our memory. There is no 'last' for our memory but there is 'last' for the physical presence because these territories will be surrendered. I went to the Saint Ascension Armenian church of Berdzor. The door was locked, I could not enter but I was admiring the artistic church door and the relief above it: Theotokos with Child. 

 How can we stop the aggressors? Every war is against children, women, nature. Perhaps it is time to understand that sophisticated technology must be applied for peace not war. That is why it is very important to be united, UNITED AGAINST ANY WAR, UNITED FOR PEACE. The Armenian people were orphaned in 1915. We have this feeling of being orphans for more than one century. How long does intergenerational trauma last? Following world news nowadays, I am afraid it is permanent