Ongoing Projects: Artsakh: Between War and Peace: NKRWP_009

Larisa Aghajanyan remained at her home, close to the frontline in Martuni, throughout most of the war. She would bake bread and deliver it to the troops every day, spending most of her remaining hours in her neighbor’s cellar. She joined her daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Yerevan only in the final days, when the fighting was at its worst. Weeks after the war has ended, Martuni is still bleak and Larisa is among the first to return. Not a single shop is open for miles. A Grad rocket is lodged in her neighbor’s roof, providing a post-apocalyptic backdrop to the otherwise cheery impromptu luncheon she is preparing. “It was sad when we came back,” she says. “The house was cold. Quiet, everywhere. Even the birds weren’t singing. We were so happy to hear your voices just now. We said: ‘We are not alone.’”

Larisa Aghajanyan remained at her home, close to the frontline in Martuni, throughout most of the war. She would bake bread and deliver it to the troops every day, spending most of her remaining hours in her neighbor’s cellar. She joined her daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Yerevan only in the final days, when the fighting was at its worst.  

Weeks after the war has ended, Martuni is still bleak and Larisa is among the first to return. Not a single shop is open for miles. A Grad rocket is lodged in her neighbor’s roof, providing a post-apocalyptic backdrop to the otherwise cheery impromptu luncheon she is preparing. “It was sad when we came back,” she says. “The house was cold. Quiet, everywhere. Even the birds weren’t singing. We were so happy to hear your voices just now. We said: ‘We are not alone.’”