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The foundation provides inmates with space, instruments and materials; Imagination and creativity are the only requirements. When the products are sold, the foundation withholds the amount for the materials and distributes the rest to the prisoners. If they wish, the money can be transferred to their relatives. The foundation is also working on a series of trainings to broaden the range of skills and professions.
A sign in one of the pavilions of Vernissage, Yerevan’s open-air art market, reads “Prison Art”. The unusual placard, surely unique in Armenia, refers to artisan products made and sold by detainees thanks to the “Support to Prisoners” Foundation established by the Ministry of Justice in 2005.
For Anna, working at the stall has not been an issue. The bottom line is, what underlines the difference, she wonders. “Whether the maker is free or in prison, the object does not change, what matters is the product. ”
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