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Azad Archives An alternative Armenian platform/Հայկական այլընտրանքային հարթակ

25/08/2025

Objects of EMMA BY

Nairy started this participatory animation project by asking people to choose objects or belongings that represent them, evoke a memory, or have some significant meaning to them. These objects act as capsules of memory and identity, holding a part of the person they belong to.

I was always curious about why people smell the way they do but the thing about my mother’s smell was that she always s...
19/08/2025

I was always curious about why people smell the way they do but the thing about my mother’s smell was that she always smelled of food; she also always looked sad. When I asked her why she was always sad, she replied:

“I am not sad. I am just thinking.”

“About what?”

“About you.”

“But I am right here.”

“I know you are. Come and hug me.”

“I don’t want to. You smell of garlic.”

“I was making dinner for you. Your favorite pasta.”

“Okay, then I will hug you but only for a second.”

I loved my mom and I still do, but I never liked her smell. I never liked garlic pasta either, but every time she cooked it and watched me eat, she had an exciting look in her eyes that allowed them to shine so brightly that her cheeks would turn bright red. These were the only times I knew for sure she was not sad.

Sleep is a beautiful experience, especially when you are tired. If you have been awake for a while hearing gunshots, and bombs, and threats, and cries, and other things that humans do to each other for no reason, you would get so tired that you would learn to sleep in such environments. So, I slept like a baby dreaming about going home to my wife when Alan woke me up.

“David! David, wake up.”

“What’s going on?”

I really wanted to punch him for waking me up when I had finally fallen asleep, but I was 19, and that was old enough for getting a punch back for not having a good excuse for a punch which meant that if I punched Alan, he would punch me back. But Alan is a good kid from a good family. He is only 18, but he is braver than all the other kids his age who run away every time a bomb comes to our side. But Alan is a good kid and as a good kid, he would, of course, punch me back if I punched him. He also smelled of dirt and sweat which is the smell of every soldier, but he had bright blue eyes, like the peaceful skies which we, Armenians, have never seen because we are a small nation nobody knows about. Except our enemies do. When they attack, we have to fight.

- from “Armenian Eyes” by .baghinyan
Read the full story on azadarchives.com (link in bio)

“a q***r superstar persona encounters a boy with a plastic AK-47 in a sunny february yerevan park”Read the full poem at ...
22/06/2025

“a q***r superstar persona encounters a boy with a plastic AK-47 in a sunny february yerevan park”

Read the full poem at azadarchives.com

The first thing Darius told me was a lie.“Got an A. You?”“Same,” I replied, keeping my paper face down. We were each oth...
17/06/2025

The first thing Darius told me was a lie.

“Got an A. You?”
“Same,” I replied, keeping my paper face down.

We were each other’s first friend, I’d like to think. Despite being inches shorter than I was, he stood with confidence, as if he hadn’t landed two months prior. Dark tight curls covered his head, eyes brown with a tint of redwood if you looked close enough, and eyebrows thick above them. I envied his long eyelashes, even as a child. It didn’t take long until I found out he envied me, too.

“You fit in,” he told me once afterschool. “Help me dress like you, yeah?”

- from American Boys by on azadarchives.com

Projecting dreams into the glowingunknown, I envision a diasporic futurityborderless withoutlines checkpoints maps ...
07/06/2025

Projecting dreams into the glowing
unknown, I envision a diasporic futurity
borderless without

lines checkpoints maps authorities
crafted by your murderous desires
and fear of the

unknowable. My unbounded existence
sings to the exiled across time and
space—an invitation

- from Transcendence by .keledjian on azadarchives.com

They Left Their Home Behind - 2024:This work is part of my series Beyond the Mass, a mixed-media, two-layered, three-dim...
24/05/2025

They Left Their Home Behind - 2024:

This work is part of my series Beyond the Mass, a mixed-media, two-layered, three-dimensional wall piece. The top layer represents elements that evoke a sense of home and belonging—motifs from my routine life, such as Kazakh rugs, blankets, and sheets. These familiar patterns embody identity and personal history.

Beneath this layer, viewers see their own reflection in a mirror, but within it, they also glimpse the displaced people of Artsakh who were forced to flee their homeland in September 2023. The photograph, credited to Mary Asatryan, captures their reality.

This body of work invites viewers to shift their perspective—both physically and emotionally—to uncover the hidden story within. It aims to create a moment of pause, even discomfort, urging us to reflect on the experiences of those who are often reduced to mere numbers, statistics, or fleeting news reports.

The Rug - 2024:
This piece reflects my Armenian identity. The underlayer features a representational image of a rug, while the top layer, which mirrors the rug’s exact shape, carries its colors but lacks a defined form or motif. This contrast raises questions about identity—what remains, what continues through generations, and what might eventually fade.

I have committed apostasy. The price to pay is hell. Or so “they” say, rather gently. It is hate delicately masked by lo...
07/05/2025

I have committed apostasy. The price to pay is hell. Or so “they” say, rather gently. It is hate delicately masked by love. How fragile is that love, how dependent on ignorance. It’s quite a thought to behold and I hold it like a child clutches a dandelion.

Apostate comes from the Greek word apostasia. Some interpret this Greek word to mean “to fall away.” It sounds romantic. To fall away from old skin into new. But the literal translation is different. It comprises of apo, “away from” and hístēmi, “to stand.” The literal translation holds more agency. It reinstates that one does not uncontrollably fall away from the old skin, rather, one willfully stands away from it. I, as an apostate, have traded in an old identity for a new one, yet I am still learning to recognize myself.

- from “Apostasia” by Jane Partizpanyan

Read the full piece on azadarchives.com (link in bio)

“Trauma is not so much what happened to us, but, rather, what we hold inside, in the absence of an empathetic witness.”...
11/03/2025

“Trauma is not so much what happened to us, but, rather, what we hold inside, in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
– Dr. Peter A. Levine, in An Unspoken Word

How does one engage with the invisible, silenced and erased? How can art bear witness to the darkest moments of human history, namely, torture, violence and sexual slavery, while holding space for human connection? These questions concern the practice of Marie Khediguian, a Canadian visual artist and a descendant of Armenian genocide survivors.

- from Remnants, Reclamation, and Resistance by Emitees Tajdari

Read the full article on azadarchives.com (link in bio)

Art by .k.artist

Bearing Witness comes from the mixture of real events and mnemonic imagination; events that Khedugian herself has not se...
10/03/2025

Bearing Witness comes from the mixture of real events and mnemonic imagination; events that Khedugian herself has not seen nor experienced yet shape her understanding of her internal world and her external Canadian identity. The realities of the genocide, particularly the acts of sexual violence and slavery enforced on women, might be overlooked when discussing war and genocide. “The embodied trauma of victims of sexual abuse and forced marriage have been, at times, deemed too personal and too emotional to be worthy of historical study.” Khediguian elaborates on the gendered sexual violence further: “This sexual violence as a weapon of war has lasting implications for the Armenian community’s perception of women’s sexuality. Victims of such violence were often viewed as “tainted” and ostracized. Even women rescued from sexual trafficking—such as those sold into slavery—were frequently shunned when reintegrated into Armenian society. This societal shame gave the violence its enduring power.”

- from Remnants, Reclamation and Resistance by Emitees Tajdari

Read the full piece on azadarchives.com (link in bio)

Art by .k.artist

Visited today 🎞️ Founded in 1975 in New York City, Project Save Photograph Archives is the oldest institution solely fo...
15/02/2025

Visited today 🎞️

Founded in 1975 in New York City, Project Save Photograph Archives is the oldest institution solely focused on preserving and sharing the photography of the Armenian global experience. With over 100,000 hardcopy photographs in their collections, they illuminate the culture and history not only of Armenians but also of the broader immigrant experience found across American communities. This year, they are celebrating their 50th anniversary with a collection of photographs that spans over 155 years of history.

Since 2021, they have digitally archived 15,000 photographs, opened a gallery, and currently host photography conversations, artist residencies, and are exploring a range of community programs. The organization not only focuses on preserving visual and oral histories but also explores ways to activate these archives within the context of migration and displacement. In doing so, they engage with communities across borders, recognizing that these objects of memory reflect a global experience.

Thank you, Arto and Ruth, for hosting us today! These discussions, especially at this moment, are crucial for maintaining connections within our communities and for extending our outreach beyond them.

We are very excited to open our first Call for Submissions of the year! This series will take on the theme of Identity. ...
09/02/2025

We are very excited to open our first Call for Submissions of the year! This series will take on the theme of Identity. We’ll be taking submissions for this call until March 1.

Prompt: What does identity mean to you?

We aim to make the process of sharing creative work as accessible and inclusive as possible. For this series, we invite you to submit a piece of writing or artwork that reflects on what identity means to you—whether explored directly or abstractly.

We look forward to seeing your work!
[email protected]

Where after our meal we all gathered around a bushto watch its flowers explode open to the sunsetwhere we toasted to our...
20/01/2025

Where after our meal we all gathered around a bush
to watch its flowers explode open to the sunset

where we toasted to our health,
To our families
To their God
To our mountains

To our land
To Artsakh
To Artsakh
To us.

- from To Artsakg by .berg

Read the full poem on azadarchives.com (link in bio)

Address

Republic Of Artsakh
Stepanakert

Website

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