A column of riot police crosses a wet street in Yerevan

Armenia · Protest and public voice · 2020 to 2023

In the Streets

Republic Square after the war, the same square after the election, a bishop in London and the protests that followed the community abroad.

Entry one · 10 December 2020

A month after the ceasefire, protesters gathered outside the government building on Republic Square.

Riot police formed a line. Television crews filmed both sides. I stood between the cameras.

A column of riot police crosses a wet street — Republic Square, Yerevan, 10 December 2020

A reporter speaks to camera in front of a line of police and press — The press line

An older man gestures in front of police riot shields — 10 December 2020

A masked woman shouts through a megaphone in a crowd — 10 December 2020

A woman in a dark turban speaks out in the crowd — 10 December 2020

A grey-haired man shouts with his fist raised — 10 December 2020

A woman holds up a red card in front of police officers — A red card, 10 December 2020

A woman in a mask holds up a handwritten sign — 10 December 2020

Entry two · 21 June 2021

The day after the parliamentary election, I went back to the same square, this time with my colleague, the photographer Paul Lewis.

Together we handed people a whiteboard and a pen and asked for one word: how they felt. We photographed them with it, and recorded what they told us. The portraits are our joint work and carry both our names.

A boy holds a whiteboard with a drawing in Republic Square — Republic Square, 21 June 2021

Listen · In the square

My future is already built. I am at the age where I will soon die. I want the young to live in a free, independent country.
A man in the square, asked about his hopes

In Armenian · 10 seconds · English from the interview transcript

A young woman holds a whiteboard under Armenian flags — 21 June 2021

Listen · Gayane

Today my step is to live honestly. I have already put my effort into my children. They are honest and devoted to our homeland. Whatever I can do, I am always ready to be useful to our country.
Gayane, 63, from central Yerevan

In Armenian · 47 seconds · English from the interview transcript

An elderly man in a checked shirt stands in the crowd, hand on hip, before he is given the whiteboard — Before the word, and after. Photographs by Sascha Klamp and Paul Lewis

The same man holds up his whiteboard with a drawing of a flower — Before the word, and after. Photographs by Sascha Klamp and Paul Lewis

Listen · In the square

I hope many people come to Armenia from London, my favourite city. I dream of being in London. And I hope Armenia becomes the country we dreamed of.
A young woman in the square

In Armenian · 20 seconds · English from the interview transcript

A woman in a yellow dress stands in the square at night — Night falls. Photographs by Sascha Klamp and Paul Lewis

The same woman holds her handwritten whiteboard — Night falls. Photographs by Sascha Klamp and Paul Lewis

An older man holds a whiteboard in the square at night — After dark, 21 June 2021

The same evening · the crowd walk

As the light went, I put the whiteboard down and walked into the crowd.

Grandparents, couples, children on shoulders. I photographed the faces, not the stage.

A woman in the crowd presses her hands together and smiles at the camera, the lit government buildings behind — Republic Square, evening of 21 June 2021

A girl in a floral dress looks up beside her grandmother, a hand raised above them — Looking up. The youngest in the square

A small girl in a bow-tie T-shirt is held up in the crowd beside her father — Looking up. The youngest in the square

An older man in a white sports shirt waves and laughs into the camera — 21 June 2021

Film · Yerevan, 21 June 2021

The square, from afternoon to night Moving portraits · 1 min 02 · The square’s own sound · Filmed with Paul Lewis

Entry three · St Sarkis, London, 28 September 2023

Two days before the rally I sat down with His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, Primate of the Armenian Church in the United Kingdom.

That week more than 70,000 people had left Artsakh for Armenia. I asked him how he was feeling.

Bishop Hovakim Manukyan in black robes stands in the arched doorway of a pale stone church — His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, St Sarkis Church, London, September 2023

Our history of the last thirty years became ashes today. Whatever we did for the last three decades, it’s evaporated.
Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, 28 September 2023

They left their history, their identity, their cemeteries. So what will happen with even the dead people? We don’t know.
Bishop Hovakim Manukyan

Listen · Bishop Hovakim

Our history is a history of the cross. But the cross for us is a symbol of hope also. Death is not the final word. But God didn’t promise us that we will be exempt from pain and suffering.
His message for that Sunday

In English · 46 seconds

The bell tower of St Sarkis Armenian Church in Kensington — St Sarkis Armenian Church, Kensington

Entry four · London, 30 September 2023

Days after the last offensive, Artsakh was emptying. In London the diaspora came to the gates of Downing Street.

Flags, banners and children. Artsakh is Armenia, they said, and SOS.

A large Artsakh SOS banner held up in front of the crowd — Whitehall, London, 30 September 2023

A young woman wrapped in the Artsakh flag stands at the railings among other protesters — At the gates

A woman holds a hand-drawn sign asking the world to save the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh — “World, please save Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. All of them.”

A long line of protesters holds Artsakh is Armenia flags — Artsakh is Armenia

An older woman holds the Armenian flag beneath a sign that reads Stop ethnic cleansing in Artsakh — Stop ethnic cleansing

Children sit on the pavement beneath an Artsakh SOS banner — The youngest, London

A small boy waves a large Armenian flag in the street — A boy and his flag

Entry five · The reel

London, 30 September 2023 Reel · 45 seconds · Phone footage with the crowd’s own sound

End of the walk

Made in public

This work sits apart from the community projects. It is made fast and in public, without the slow consent of the village work, and it is shown here on those terms.

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