Rima Grigoryan interviewed the authors of political posters of 1988: painters Grigor Khachatryan, Artak Baghdasaryan and Norayr Ayvazyan (Constable).  

Studying the Movement posters ethnographer Harutyun Marutyan , identified about 20 content groups. 

“What kind of posters did you mainly paint?” 

Artak: Our works were first of all anti-Soviet, that is to say, they did not refer to Karabakh first of all.

“The Nailed Hand of Victory” by Grigor Khachatryan [Published photo on the cover of “Garun” Magazine]
Norayr: We started with posters of anti-Soviet content. In the beginning, our works were so radical that we were told by the platform that they had nothing to do with us. 

Grigor: What we were doing was far ahead of the protests’ texts and calls, because they were still trying to talk to the Kremlin on a diplomatic level. 

“Would you tell us about some of your posters?” 

Grigor: I remember that a very stupid decision was made at that time, for which the Constable had made the poster “According to the decision, this is black, according to the decision, this is white”. 

” According to the decision, this is black, according to the decision, this is white”, Norayr Ayvazyan (Constable)

Norayr: Yes, some absurd decision was made. we hung black and white posters at Matenadaran. It was written “According to the decision, this is white” on black, while on white  it was written “According to the decision, this is black.” During the big rally, that giant poster worked out very well. 

Grigor: I had added a Kremlin element to real boots, in which people suddenly started pouring pennies. Then it turned into graphics… 

“Constitutional State”, Norayr Ayvazyan (Constable)

The full interview 

Translator: Loran Ohanyan  

Source: hambardzum.am website archive