Martiros Saryan, Love, 1906
nobody can convince me this isn’t sapphic love
‘The Human Rights Situation of LGBT People in Armenia’ Annual Report of 2022 published by Queer Armenian Organisation - Pink Armenia reported an incident regarding an interview with Davit Gasparyan, an author of school textbooks…
“In the interview, Gasparyan stated that two girls kiss in the 7th-grade literature textbook and that showing it to children at the age of puberty is unacceptable. In the comments underneath the interview, the users called on parents to unite and demand an “Armenian” upbringing. The subject matter was, in fact, related to the reprint of Martiros Saryan's “Love. Fairy Tale” painting, depicting a man and a woman. This was first stated by the Fact Investigation Platform. Later, Sofya Saryan, head of the depository of the Saryan House Museum and the artist’s granddaughter, also spoke to clarify the issue. However, that did not abate public agitation, with people criticizing the portrayal of the man in the picture with long hair as something confusing for 13-year-old students.”
While this is genuinely saddening as it gives us a very real image of what prejudice exists in Armenian culture regarding any depictions of queer themes or even anything that denies the very rigidly enforced gender roles of men not being allowed to have long hair, I also wonder if this is a case of queer erasure.
Saryan’s granddaughter can’t speak to her late grandfather’s intentions with this painting, and I don’t think that he would have felt particularly comfortable telling her or anyone else in his family if he was, in fact, drawing sapphic people in love. He may have flippantly just claimed, ‘Oh, well, that is clearly a man with long hair; no need to speculate further’.
Armenian men in the 1900s typically had short hair for practicality and did not wear heels. They predominantly wore shoes known as Jorabs and wore Turbans on their heads.
Meanwhile, women…
I rest my case.
