Armine Avetisyan
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what it is that you do?
“My name is Armine Avetisyan, and I’m IMPACT’s programme manager. I’m originally from Armenia, and I come from the city called Gyumri, the second-largest city of the country which is located close to the sealed Turkish border. My family, however, actually comes from Kars, a city located on the other side of the border in the far eastern part of Turkey. In fact, Armenia is in conflict with two of our neighbours: [Turkey and Azerbaijan]. With Turkey, there’s historical turmoil of genocide and its continuous denial as well as current geopolitical problems. Growing up, I heard lots of stories about our ancestral homeland and my family’s longing for it. They often talked about how painful it was to leave everything behind and relocate somewhere new.
Initially, I worked for a local nonprofit organisation called City Research Center doing cultural heritage preservation work within our city. After a couple of years, we expanded into regional projects and started creating some spaces for young people from across the region [South Caucasus and Turkey] to come together and spend some time working with specific heritage sites. People from countries which are in conflict in the region such as Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, who would work on cleaning of that site while exploring the shared history of that particular piece of cultural heritage. That’s how I became involved in peacebuilding. Eventually, the project expanded to encompass other art forms as we started collaborating with a variety of artists and local communities.
During this job, I frequently travelled to Turkey, and it was very insightful for me to see how different the country was from what I had been taught. During the Soviet era, for about 70 years, Armenia and Turkey were separated by the Iron Curtain; no one had any idea about what was happening on the other side of the border. For us, the trauma of genocide was the cornerstone image many Armenians had of modern Turkey. So, when visiting the country, I came to witness so many layers and nuances that I initially had no idea about. Eventually, I ended up moving to Turkey to study Cultural Management while I continued working on peacebuilding initiatives through arts and culture.Later, I moved to the United States, where I am now, for graduate school. I did my master’s degree in conflict resolution at Brandeis University. Back then, IMPACT was housed at Brandeis, and I had the pleasure of meeting with Cindy Cohen who is the main brain behind this whole idea. She’s the initiator, the founder, and the creator of this whole project. And, now, a few years later, here I am!”
Could you describe for us the most emotionally-impactful creative project that you’ve worked on to date?
“Over the past few decades, in the Armenia-Turkey context, there have been a lot of initiatives that bring various groups of people together. In most cases, participants are usually part of an institution such as a civil society organisation, a non-profit organisation, media, or an educational organisation. My colleagues and I realised that the voices of local women from the border areas were not being heard in these peacebuilding initiatives. We wanted to engage them, yet there was no space that would bring together people who didn’t necessarily belong to any of those professional groups. So, we thought, what could be a thing that could unite women who don’t speak any foreign languages or hold any professional careers? Cooking!
We ended up initiating a project called “Haven’t We Shared Much Salt and Bread?” which brought together a few women from both sides of the border inside one kitchen. Honestly, I was really astonished how these women, without any training in conflict transformation or in communication, managed to work together. Of course, during the process, there were a lot of difficult moments and conversations in terms of facing the traumatic past and the problematic present. There was such a big gap in terms of perception and in terms of how history was understood. It was really hard to navigate those relations sometimes, and I was astonished how these women handled it all with such grace and kindness toward each other. It was such a huge learning opportunity for me. I think it was a very transformative process for many of those women involved because I witnessed, later, their continuous relationships and friendships. They were in touch with each other often through social media. Even though they didn’t speak the same language, they used Google Translate to communicate. It was really nice to see that this project wasn’t just a one-time thing.
Also, I want to stress that, sometimes, when we talk about art and culture, we only think about painting or music or theatre. However, cooking, like in this instance, can also be a way of creative expression. I can’t say that the issue was totally solved, but it was definitely a great way to address certain issues.”
What is one piece of content that profoundly impacted the way you view and/or work in this field?
“John Paul Lederach’s book titled “The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace” has been helpful for me whenever I find myself facing challenging times. It’s a very iconic and important work in this field. I often find myself going back to that book again and again. Basically, the book is about how the artistic process and creativity is centrally positioned in both peacebuilding work and leading social change. They’re interrelated concepts that often build upon each other. Risk-taking, embracing complexity, recognising interdependence, and commitment to creativity are all key pillars of his work. That is, the way we view ourselves, sometimes in silos, isn’t conducive to understanding the full picture of how we’re all interconnected and interrelated in so many different ways. For example, whatever is happening to your “enemy” on the other side is directly impacting you, your children, and generations to come. We should be aware of this web of relationships that connects us all to one another. When we do peacebuilding work, we try to imagine something differently; we try to imagine these connections holding. There’s a large component of risk-taking involved. But it’s worth it, you know? You can’t move forward without that imagination.”
In your own experience, is there any particular medium that you enjoy working with the most? Which medium do you think has the most power to create the kind of positive socio-cultural change that we’re looking for at IMPACT?
“All creative media have equal potential; I can’t say that one is more powerful than any other. They’re each powerful in their own unique way. However, even though I don’t do art, I don’t consider myself an artist, I work with a lot of artists and appreciate their work so much. I think, for this reason, even though it’s not a “traditional” form of art, those cooking projects that I mentioned earlier really inspired me. After that experience, I’ve started cooking a lot more for the people in my life who seem to really enjoy my food. It brings me such joy to make food and share it with those whom I love and care for. In many ways, it’s a therapy for me – the kitchen is my safe space. Food really has the power to bring people together and to unite people. So, the more we continue to just make and share food, the more opportunities we create for people to come together. I think that’s important. That’s very similar to what IMPACT does, right? It’s all about creating as much space as possible for people to come together and understand one another.”
Finally, if you could give yourself one piece of advice 20 years ago, knowing what you know now, what would it be?
“I would tell myself to not be overly naïve in believing that a few art projects could change the whole world. However, at the same time, I still believe that it’s crucial to acknowledge their importance while also acknowledging how complex political situations can actually be. Overall, I think complexity is the key word that I’ve learned to appreciate. The arts definitely need to be a cornerstone of peacebuilding work. They need to be considered and always remain in the back of our minds as we think about the complexity of the situations within which we work.”