#WhatDoesItMean _ToYou_ Armenia
2021 - 2022
It was a difficult period in Armenia, right after the 44 day war of Artsakh, in the middle of an internal political crisis and alleged attempted coup in the beginning of spring 2021.
It was difficult to comprehend all this, at times I felt like I need an extra day on top of the day that has passed in order to keep up with everything. Though what shocked me the most was the immediate change in people’s behavior. I have seen the disappointment, impulsive reactions, aggressive attitude, manipulative acts, grief, hopelessness, puzzled faces, division between the people and most importantly the fear of hunger and history repeating itself after the first Nagorno-Karabakh war and the fall of the Soviet Union. I have also seen how quickly the effects of the genocide trauma came up to the surface again.
I was in Armenia from October 2019 - June 2021, I have spent the lockdown there and witnessed all the happenings during the pandemic, war, political crisis, and preparations for a snap parliamentary elections… where everybody literally snapped!
This project was developed under all these circumstances and events. It was meant to be an interactive project, and started when I used watercolors to create tiny artworks on the blank pages of a tiny notebook, which was a way for me to process what was happening around me.
The fact that I wasn’t born in Armenia, and haven’t experienced what the local Armenians experienced throughout the historical events that took place in the country along with the traumas they caused, made me think that I don’t have enough knowledge to understand the people in Armenia. However, my experience over the nearly 2 years of living in Armenia made me notice some patterns which indicated that Armenian people are not interested to learn about each other or understand one another. I wanted to see this in a more direct way and on a closer level. I started writing quotes I read before on the tiny pieces of artwork that I made, with a message to the people to communicate with me through instagram, and eventually communicate with each other. Later I decided that I want to focus on writing quotes by Armenian writers, poets, philosophers and artists.
After I filled all the pages of the notebook with quotes, I started leaving the pieces of paper on the street in places where someone can take a moment to read. At times, I left papers in spots where I stopped to take a pause and rest during my walks, and some other times I left them in public places, cafes, means of transportation, the airport, etc. and I documented the places and the spots with photographs I took at the moment I left the paper there.
Distributing all the papers from the notebook had a satisfying feeling to it, despite the fact that I had no interaction on instagram during that time. Although I have seen people reading the paper and paying attention to it, and I personally had a conversation with a person who I saw took the paper and expressed her liking of the idea and told me that she wants to relocate the paper to another place.
With fragile dreams I was preparing to leave Armenia around that time while still holding the hope that I’m coming back to work on those fragile dreams of mine, and I noticed that this whole act is my farewell to the land… though how I wish it not to be the final farewell.
On a later stage after I left Armenia, holding the same hope within, I decided that I will give this communication a second chance on the virtual world and start posting the photos of the papers and the photographs of the places on instagram, asking the people to interact, communicate and share what the quote on the paper meant to them virtually. Luckily, I had one communication on instagram, which left me feeling very happy and still hopeful.
I bought this tiny notebook from OokBookME sometime in 2016.
I knew that I’m going to use it for something special, but I didn’t know what exactly and I didn’t have anything in mind.
Time has come in 2021 where this notebook played an important role to bring #WhatDoesItMean_ToYou_Armenia project to life
You can check the full project on my instagram account @nairy.shahinian or search the hashtag (the project’s title).
“Oh, Armenian people, your only salvation lies in the power of your unity.”Yeghishe Charents
“It is the destiny of gods and superhumans to be alone.”Garegin Nzhdeh.
“I would rather eat grass and be a just person than lick a plate and enjoy welfare.”Hagop Baronian
“I will always be a person who looks for the way.”Yeghia Demirjibashian
“It is hard for us to speak the blunt truth, but the truth is that on the path of eternity, mundane values and carriers of those values do not pass away, rather they drop dead.”Hayk Asatryan
“Two things should fill the human soul; admiration and respect. The starry sky above one’s head and the moral code in one’s heart.”Garegin Nzhdeh
“Receive wisdom and positively reprehend ignorance as the birth of the gloom. If you reject knowledge, it will reject you too.”Anania Shirakatsi
“If there is no love, why should I suffer in a wicked world?”Vahan Teryan
“We have no benefits from the help of strangers. A nation who longs for the help of a stranger is miserable, and will always be miserable.”Raffi
“A person is as great as he is capable of loving others.”Avetic Isahakyan
“Reaching to happiness does not require much speed, rather the choice of the right path.”David the Invincible
“Acknowledging a mistake is wise, but admitting it, a great courage.”Hakob Paronyan
“Of all the views on life, I prefer my life.”Shahan Shahnour
“There is no future for a nation whose suffering does not serve the meaning and understanding of its existence.”Garegin Nzhdeh
“Life is so beautiful that there is no need to make it up, and so ugly that there is no way to disfigure it any more.”Alexander Shirvanzade
“Now, many people want to pave their own way, but leant on the shoulders of others… .”Alexander Shirvanzade
“In this world full of games, if you lose your game, Be cheerful and you will rejoice in luck.”Avetik Isahakyan