Vagudi Village. Sisian 1968

Curator: Petros Malayan's 1968 watercolor, "Vagudi Village, Sisian," presents a village scene rendered with the subtle gradations that watercolours afford, with what appears to be children playing a game on an open plaza or yard. Editor: The light is what gets me. There’s a delicate melancholy hovering in the scene. The greyish cast seems to symbolize a certain hardship, but also maybe the resilience of the figures. There’s a vulnerability to it, isn’t there? Curator: Definitely. The application of washes of colour implies not just landscape, but a network of lived environments: The choice of watercolor lends itself well to the soft edges and transparency—it has to be deliberate, allowing the material to be evident, but the technique gives it a modern flavor. Consider the work being made at the time, it mirrors broader conversations around value in labor in artwork, and I would argue, by extension, a cultural valuation of the lives depicted. Editor: It does remind me of childhood games and fleeting moments. The imagery seems to suggest more than meets the eye. This open space acts almost as a symbolic ground—the children kicking around in it seem to point at hope amidst the stone buildings. It’s really interesting how, through visual symbolism, this piece could act as a wider representation for survival in that community. The scale is modest but somehow grand, because those gestures and the arrangement on the picture plane stand for something universal. Curator: That’s very insightful. It underscores how choices related to medium impact meaning, doesn’t it? From this angle, seeing “Vagudi Village, Sisian”, isn’t merely representational, but a critical reflection on production. The scale almost flattens into a graphic representation of materiality itself. I really agree on this element tying it so effectively into modernism broadly. Editor: Exactly! And isn’t it compelling how Malayan distills complex experiences and shared memories into these simple, poignant symbols? Thinking about its significance and how the emotional narrative of this work can ripple through our consciousness… It invites you into this shared space. Curator: I wholeheartedly concur. It reveals the potential for quiet reflection that close attention to an artist’s technique and means of production allows. Editor: I couldn't have said it better myself.