In Yerevan i peeked into a world that deeply moved and inspired me. This world was revealed to me by several Armenian feminist activists and artists that showed me how they deal with themselves and their environment through art. In this world art is used to express yourself in an environment that doesn’t intend to hear or see you. Art is the tool to express experiences when there are no words or spaces to describe them. Through using art, spaces are created where women and queer people can express their experiences, their individuality, their existence. Because outside of these spaces they are made invisible. Many of the women and queer people we met described this experience with words like invisibility, muteness or silence.

Ani Asatryan addresses this experience in her poignant work "mangled bodies" which originally was titled "muteness" by the author. The work describes a little girl growing up experiencing the silencing as soon as she is confronted with womanhood. It seems almost ironic when Ani told how another, apparently very experienced, person suggested to rename the work from "muteness" to "mangled bodies" and therefore muted the authors voice in the context of a work addressing this exact experience. Also, later in Asatryan's artistic career the silence appears again when she actively uses it as a form of protest through erasing an entire book she has written at the launch party of this book, launching only completely blacked out books to visually illustrate the silence.

Also, Shushan Avagyan deals with this silence in her piece "a book untitled". The silence and non- existent spaces for women and queer voices is already beautifully resembled in the title alone. While writing the book she did not consider it as a form of activism but now she reflects that using her language alone is in fact already a form of activism because it challenges the silence. But it is not only the use of her language that is a form of activism, but the book is also in direct contrast to common Armenian history and art where women and queer people are not at all represented. In "a book untitled" the author tries to bring obscured Armenian voices of two pioneers in feminist literature together and putting Armenian women's experiences into words creating a space relatable to women and queer people.

The lack of space to talk about experiences and therefore not being able to share them as collective experiences was also described by the artist Maria Zakaryan. Especially with their piece "breaking the silence on menstruation" a photographical documentary they try to break the taboo oftalking about menstruation. The lack of knowledge about menstruation also became apparent in the conversation with Maria describing how they themself and many Armenian women don't know what happens to their body when they experience their first menstruation.

These pieces deal with how Armenian women and queer people are silenced through tabooing their experiences, depriving them of their language and making them invisible. While  the  artworks resulting out of it are testimonies of breaking this silence, invisibility and muteness.
However, what I find most inspiring about these pieces, the people creating them and  the conversations I had with them, are the intentions behind the pieces. These artworks are not created to get as much attention as possible, not to make people understand their experiences, but much more about stating alternative forms of expression.

This is resembled in Mariam Aleksanyan works, whether we look at her earlier works like "the room" or ""cross" where the artists try to understand how spaces are built and how people move and act in them or some more recent crochet artworks in the series "connection" where the artist works through the pandemic and the loss of many people due to the Arzakh war. Describing her art as form of therapy to process her own role and emotions. However, when Mariam showed us her piece "love" that she keeps in a cardboard box in her desk drawer it became apparent that this art is in the first place not created to be seen but is much more an expression of an experience where words were insufficient. 
Also, Shushan Avagyan talked about this when she explained how her art project like "Zarubyani kanayq" is unpublishedbecause the only purpose was to capture a moment where women and queer people came together with the desire to create something and then dispersed again. This project was not created to be imposed on anyone, but it exists for people thatgenuinely want to find it and wish to receive it as her legacy.

This makes their art very authentic and real to me. Because this art is neither created to be bought by an exclusive art collector and shown in renowned art galleries nor with the purpose of educating people about women's and queer people's experiences in Armenia. This art simply enables the person behind the piece to express something that otherwise would not be expressed and through these pieces relatable spaces are created for other women and queer people.
Engaging with Armenian artists and activists enlighted the personal dilemma i have with art and activism. Ani Asatryan, Shushan Avagyan, Lusine Talalyan, Maria Zakaryan, Sona Mnatsakanyan and the women of 4Plus expressed through art, activism, words and gestures what I havebeen struggling to sort out for myself: neither art nor activism should solely be created with the purpose of being seen one day but because something important for the person behind the piece can be expressed that otherwise would not have been possible to express. The job of this art is not to be seen but to exist because with its existence creates a process that otherwise would not have taken place.

Text and photos by Sinja Dietiker