Siranush Aghajanyan: Butterflies

February 24, 2023 – September 03, 2023 Siranush Aghajanyan is one of the few artists in Armenia, who has solely undertaken the revitalization and reconsideration of mosaic, one of the oldest art techniques in the world, in the perspective of contemporary art, including street art. Some years ago, mosaic images began to pop-up all-over varied buildings and walls in Yerevan: portraits, pop culture idols, symbols, references to socio-cultural varied phenomena, etc.

After the 44-day war in 2020 Siranush created monumental mosaic butterflies: Post-War Butterflies/Siraharanq (literal translation from Armenian: Lovefall). The idea of butterflies was born as an embodiment of life, rebirth, and love. 

The pieces, featured in the exhibition Siranush Aghajanyan: Butterflies in Gallery One of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, are different from the post-war works, as they acquire new imagery. Those are not simply mosaics of beautiful natural creatures, but a new interpretation of Siranush’s long-drawn street art works, already in a museum setting. 

The butterflies expanded over the whole length of the library wall are made of ceramics and natural stones, which are the pixels of these images. One of the oldest art techniques in the history of humanity reaches out from the depths of millennia to the 21st century human for whom the digital pixel is the core of the visual communication on the screens of smartphones and computers.

Having presented Siranush Aghajanyan’s mosaic work for the first time in the exhibition TOMORROW in 2021, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts continues paving a way for street art, taking it from urban environment to the museum, even though it may sound contradictory.