Photojournalists Changing The Image Of Women In Armenia
4Plus aims to empower women through photography
In Yerevan’s Victory Park, an enormous copper statue of a woman brandishing a sword stands sentinel over the city. “Mother Armenia” is a symbol of national strength and reverence for women, but photographer Anahit Hayrapetyan says women in her country often don’t enjoy the freedom and respect the statue evokes.
“mOther Armenia,” an exhibition of the work of ten women photographers held in 2013, was one of the first projects of 4Plus, an Armenian organization co-founded by Hayrapetyan that seeks to empower women through photography. The title is a play on the name of the statue, and refers to the exhibition’s ten photo collections, each of which highlighted a different problem facing women in Armenia, such as transgender issues, violence against women, and treatment of Yazidi girls and refugee women.
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