Memory as Healing: Preserving Artsakh Stories After Displacement

Martuni, Artsakh Photo Book premier

For Armenian families forcibly displaced from Artsakh, memory plays a vital role in healing, identity, and continuity. After losing homes, communities, and places of deep personal meaning, preserving stories and shared experiences helps individuals process trauma and rebuild a sense of belonging in Armenia. Lorik Humanitarian Fund supports initiatives that honor memory as a path toward healing for displaced Artsakh families.

This work complements Lorik Humanitarian Fund’s efforts to provide permanent housing for displaced Artsakh families, recognizing that recovery requires not only safe homes, but space to remember, reflect, and preserve lived history.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Lorik Humanitarian Fund was able to sponsor the printing of a special book about Martuni, Artsakh, written by two of its own residents. It is a photobook of pictures taken on September 24, 2025 just a few days after the war and a day prior to the forced displacement of the entire population of Artsakh.

"Streets that tell a story" captures images from Artsakh just prior to the forced displacement

At last night’s premiere, many from Martuni gathered together to share stories, tears, and laughter as they relived their memories of home.

Your support of Lorik Fund makes a difference in many ways: from the physical, providing homes to forcibly displaced families from #Artsakh, to the spiritual and emotional, preserving memory, culture, and community through projects like this.

Healing can never be complete until there is justice and a return to our native land. Yet each story told and each memory preserved is a step toward keeping Artsakh alive in our hearts. We will return to our homes.

Authors Ani Sargsyan & Vatchig Dadayan

Special thanks to the authors: Ani Sargsyan & Վաչիկ Դադայան for capturing Martuni’s story and giving voice to its people.

Thank you to all who make this work possible.

You can support Artsakh memory and healing initiatives and help displaced families preserve identity and process loss by contributing to Lorik Humanitarian Fund.

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