Artsakh: The Burdens of Healing (Short Documentary)
Weave News is pleased to present this short documentary by Taline Norsigian, a young artist and filmmaker who has previously worked as an intern with our organization. The film was produced in 2022-2023 as part of an independent study project at St. Lawrence University under the supervision of Dr. John Collins. It was released by Hay Hokee Films in 2023.
Artist Statement
Standing in front of Mount Ararat, during my trip to Armenia in 2022, I set out to research how war and displacement impact Armenian’s health. As an Armenian-American whose family fled from the Armenian Genocide of 1915, I live as a member of the Armenian diaspora, far removed from my homeland, yet deeply connected to my culture. When the war against Artsakh in 2020 began, I was devastated. I did not know much about the situation, having only learned bits and pieces from my trip to Artsakh in 2016 and reading articles, but I was shaken to my core. Like so many other Armenians around the globe, I feared for my people. It was the first official war against Armenians during my lifetime.
When a war occurs, it impacts the whole community – the veterans; the families whose relative died, is missing, or is a prisoner of war; those who were displaced; the healthcare and humanitarian workers who support these people; those living in the country; and those in the diaspora. I decided I wanted to speak with activists in Armenia who support those who experience war and displaced people to gain an understanding of what these communities experienced and are currently experiencing today.
So often, war outside of Western Europe and the U.S. region is dismissed as normal and ongoing, attributing this external structure as inherent to the people who live there and the place they live. However, deliberately overlooking these conflicts means we are not acknowledging these people’s reality, their experiences of trauma, and their need for multitudes of community healing, care, and support, just as we all need at different points in our lives. It purposefully ignores the influence of global powers in causing and perpetuating these conflicts to fulfill their economic interests over prioritizing the lives of the people living there and their health. It also fails to realize how war has a myriad of not widely known or seen impacts on people that extend far beyond deaths and infrastructure destruction. Finally, people who experience war have valuable knowledge about trauma, war-related injuries, emergency procedures, and healing that the world can learn from.
With this film, I seek to confront these truths and reveal them so that they can be known, seen, and heard by an audience who might not have been through these experiences. From the omniscient, metaphoric introduction to the interviews, I hope one learns the permanency of these structures. War and displacement do not end with a ceasefire agreement or the signing of documents. Rather, they cause complex trauma and community rebuilding for generations to come, with impacts ranging from health, identity, relationship to the world and space, and perception of time. The absence of war does not mean that peace, stability, security, and well-being are present; conflict and displacement continue to occur after war has officially “ended.” Given that 100 million people were displaced from conflict in 2021, we learn that war and displacement are current and global issues. At the same time, there is a universality to pain and trauma experienced by all humans, and thus I believe this film can reveal similarities in experiences and create solidarity. Above all, we must recognize people who experience displacement and war and their experiences, even if we cannot see the impacts ourselves.
Further resources
Artists reporting on the Artsakh War:
Additional information about the war:
https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/nagorno-karabakh-conflict-visual-explainer
https://www.rferl.org/a/nagorno-karabakh-blockade-azerbaijan-armenia-critical/32508788.html
Organizations supporting people impacted by the Artsakh War:
