A Year of Hetq in Pictures
Homeless, Burns Hospital, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006
As posted about here, here, and here, Hetq Online staged an exhibition of some of my photos taken during the past year at Yerevan’s Naregatsi Art Institute last week. The exhibition came to an end today, but Hetq has just posted an English translation of last week’s report in Armenian.
“I had no idea that there were people like this in Armenia. Now I can imagine how hard it is for them, I see the conditions they’re living in. I see that they are deceived and forgotten, but it shouldn’t be like this,” said seventh-grader Christine Khachatryan.
“I like these pictures because they’re different from the other pictures that usually represent Armenia – beautiful mountains and churches. Here I see that there are people in Armenia in need of real help and sympathy,” said photojournalist Mark Baguelin.
“I’ve read the stories about these people and to some extent I’m aware of their problems. But it was very interesting for me to see all these pictures together and to put together a kind of panorama in my mind. I appreciate it very much as a series; it’s serious, thoughtful work,” found Alex Sardar.
“The pictures contain quite a power in them to change people’s opinions and attitudes toward the homeless and those in need. I work with various NGOs dealing with socially vulnerable people so I’m somewhat aware of the matter, but generally people don’t realize that such people exist,” Arpine Grigorian said.
The full article is here.
Homeless, Burns Hospital, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006
Yesterday I visited your exhibition and while I was looking at these two pictures you posted here, I started to wonder whatever happened to these two homeless women after they were brought to the hospital. Did they get proper treatment for their burn wounds and did they recover from them?
Comment by Myrthe — August 1, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
Hi Myrthe,
One had the burn on her hand and arm treated with a skin graft and I saw her a month later at the homeless shelter. The other was still in hospital when I visited the shelter at that time, but I heard that she had part or all of her foot amputated because of frostbite.
BTW: Blog posts with photos and links to articles and more images of homelessness in Armenia can be found at http://oneworld.blogsome.com/category/homelessness/.
Cheers,
Onnik
Comment by Onnik — August 1, 2006 @ 10:30 pm
Onnik jan,
Congratulations on your exhibition; wish I could have been there on the opening. Your work grows stronger every time I see it. Its stunning. I absolutely must urge you to enter World Press Photo this year. From this year’s competition, they should have a digital transfer receiving service, so now you have no excuse!!
Keep up the great work,
Edo
PS - Would love to see more on the homeless story.
Edmond Terakopian
www.pix.org.uk
www.thebppa.com
Comment by Edmond Terakopian — August 2, 2006 @ 11:09 pm
The picture made me sad!
My god!!!!
Comment by Toeo — August 4, 2006 @ 9:00 pm