Lizzy Vartanian Collier is a London-based writer and curator. Lizzy recently curated Perpetual Movement as part of Arab Women Artists Now (AWAN) Festival 2018 in London, which was featured in Vogue Arabia and The Art Newspaper.

Lizzy, you were a curator at this year's Armenian art fair and it was a major success! Please tell us who were the artists and why did you decide to work with them? Please include their Instagrams so we can follow them.

LIZZY: The artists I worked with were Nadia Gohar, Shaikha Fahd Al Ketbi, Thana Faroq, Yumna Al Arashi, Najd Al Taher, and Araz Farra. The works actually all came from an exhibition I curated earlier this year called Perpetual Movement as part of Arab Women Artists Now Festival. I was asked to curate the exhibition as a Lebanese Armenian, and as it was an Arab festival and I am not an Arab, I wanted to think about my own relationship to the Arab region, my mum is from Lebanon and my grandmother from Syria, everything I knew about the Middle East was from what my mother told me, through memories that I had inherited, which traveled to me from Lebanon to London through my mother. Therefore all of the work was focused on memory and movement in some way. Their Instagrams are: nadiagohar, shaikhasees, thanafaroq, yumnaaa, pandorajay, and arazfarra.

You are the gallery girl, you’ve been writing about art for major magazines like Canvas Magazine, Harper's Bazaar Arabia, and your own blog Gallerygirl.co. Can you please share with us one of your favorite articles (that you wrote) or interviews and tell us why you chose that one?

LIZZY: This is a really hard question because there are so many to choose from! As a rule, I only write about what I like and am inspired by. Since this article is about Armenians, I will share this piece I wrote about Armenian curators for EVN Report, this is important to me, as these young women are supporting young artists in Armenia, and I believe they have the power to put Armenia art on the map.

Lizzy, you collaborate a lot with photographers. Can you please share with us a few of your favorite photos? Could you tell us about the photo shoot that you did in Armenia when you were there?

LIZZY: I love photography. It is a medium that is accessible to so many people now thanks to advances in technology. You may not be able to afford a fancy camera but there is so much you can do on a phone now. One of my all-time favorite photographs is Ghaya by Shaikha Fahd Al-Ketbi, which was the lead image in an exhibition I curated earlier this year called Perpetual Movement. I am also a big fan of Ziad Antar and I love Alia Ali’s BORDERLAND series.

I used to model, and right before I went to Yerevan earlier this year a friend of mine told me about some of her favorite photographers from Armenia. I quickly became obsessed with them, and I messaged both Damian Hovanissyan and Aram Kirakosyan directly on Instagram to tell them I loved there work and asked them if they were interested in shooting together. Amazingly both said yes. With Damian, we drove to Lake Sevan and took photos on the rocks and on abandoned boats. Meanwhile, with Aram Kirakosyan we shot inside, using mirrors and lace, replicating scenes from The Colour of Pomegranates but also playing with textures and reflections.

Who are some of the Armenian artists that you follow on Instagram?

LIZZY: Luska! I also follow Narek Barseghyan, Hrair Sarkissian, Ripsy May, Armine Harutyunyan, Narnur, Katia Boyadjian, Araz Farra and many more! I also think its important to mention young Armenian curators too, who are supporting the artists, namely Ella Kanegarian, Tereze Davtyan, Suzana Poghosyan, Anna Kamay and Anna Gargarian.