Visitors to the exhibit of photographs entitled A Year of Hetq in Pictures that opened last week at the Narekatsi Art Institute may have felt they were seeing realistic pictures of homeless, forsaken and betrayed people in Armenia for the first time.

"People talk a great deal about reducing poverty, investments, democracy, but in fact there are social groups, families and individuals in Armenia whose poverty is getting worse from year to year. These pictures are graphic evidence of that," said photojournalist Onnik Krikorian.

The stories of the subjects of Krikorian's photographs have been published on Hetq over the last year. The photos and series of articles are about the homeless, ethnic minorities, and the socially vulnerable. Most of them live in the provinces. Krikorian says it is fascinating to visit villages throughout Armenia - there are so many interesting people and stories. "I'll keep working on these subjects. And now I'm also getting interested in ecological and youth issues."

This is the second time an exhibit like this has been organized. "Unfortunately, past experience shows that people's lives don't change much after exhibits like this. As an outstanding exception, I should mention that last year a shelter for the homeless was opened with the support of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. But in general people are indifferent," Krikorian, said.

"I had no idea that there were people like this in Armenia. Now I can imagine how hard it is for them, I see the conditions they're living in. I see that they are deceived and forgotten, but it shouldn't be like this," said seventh-grader Christine Khachatryan.

"I like these pictures because they're different from the other pictures that usually represent Armenia - beautiful mountains and churches. Here I see that there are people in Armenia in need of real help and sympathy," said photojournalist Mark Baguelin.

"I've read the stories about these people and to some extent I'm aware of their problems. But it was very interesting for me to see all these pictures together and to put together a kind of panorama in my mind. I appreciate it very much as a series; it's serious, thoughtful work," found Alex Sardar.

"The pictures contain quite a power in them to change people's opinions and attitudes toward the homeless and those in need. I work with various NGOs dealing with socially vulnerable people so I'm somewhat aware of the matter, but generally people don't realize that such people exist," Arpine Grigorian said.

The exhibit is organized by Investigative Journalists of Armenia will be open through August 1, 2006.