Episode 18! Refuge, Exile, and Belonging w/Varduhi Balyan
Other Armenias Podcast by Tamar R Shirinian and Milena Abrahamyan
Episode notes
In this discussion with artist and filmmaker Varduhi Balyan, we talk about a film that she is currently making entitled Մեկի չգոյություն [The Non-Existence of One], which traces the experience of one man in a village in Armenia that is made up largely of Armenian residents of a village displaced from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s during the population exchange. This is a fascinating conversation about the question of belonging, displacement, safety, and what it means to live as a refugee and in exile. We weave together mourning (including queer mourning), memory, and what it means to call a place home.
Keywords
ArmeniagenocideidentityAzerbaijanNagorno-Karabakhexilememorymourningethnic cleansingbelonging