Girls don’t enter this shop: “Prison art” (video)
The shop with an unusual name is situated on Khanjyan street in Yerevan; one can buy the handicrafts of Armenian prisoners from “Prison art” shop. “We have rosaries, woodworks, religious icons, gypsum pictures, carpets, which are woven by women of Abovyan prison,” shop assistant Anna Harutyunyan told “A1+”. The shop has been operating for already 10 years; it was established by “Support to prisoners” fund. The works are prepared by the inmates of Koghb, Artik, Sevan, Vanadzor and Goris penitentiary institutions in the workshops. Mrs Anna confesses: “We have both high and low quality products. There are people, who are just learning how to make and the quality isn’t good. But there are also masters, specialists, who have been engaged in this work for years and give high quality products.” We cannot find any object made of bread dough here. Anna Harutyunyan notes, “Then there was no material, and the objects were made of dough, but now the fund provides them materials.” The prisoners decide the prices of the products; the same product may be expensive one day and cheap on the next day. The income from the sales belongs to the prisoners. “Money is transferred to the account of a prisoner, who made it. They are provided a coupon equal to that sum; they can use that coupon in a canteen in order to buy food, or a bank account is opened and after being released they get their money,” says Mrs Anna. The customers are mainly young men. “Prison art” has negative influence on the sales of the shop. “People come for buying prison rosaries. There are young girls, who refrain from the shop’s name. When they see ‘Prison art’, they don’t enter the shop.” A notable fact; the shop continues operating, though the income of the shop is less than the salary of the shop assistant.
