On 16 September, 7:00 p.m. “Black Life” exhibition will be held at the Art Gallery (Leo 52, Yerevan). The photostory is about an Armenian family of refugees living in the village of Bagratashen. Prominent Armenian photojournalist Ruben Mangasaryan had been shooting the story of that family’s “black life” for more than 6 years. Some of these photographs were published by major international media including BBC and Days Japan. Using his photographs, Ruben found support for the struggling family from all around the world. Yet the family still lives in the same appalling conditions. The aim of the exhibition is to present the work done by Ruben on this project, reflecting the power of media to call the attention of people from many continents to a small poor family living in the frontier zone of Armenia. The exhibition also aims to attract more support for the family and eventually resolve their problems. The Gadyans’ Black Life is about extreme poverty, trauma and squalor. The family stove, fueled chiefly by plastic, has a leaking stovepipe that lets heavy smoke into the home, coating everything and everyone with soot. Lida Gadyan, 45, is a refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan where she washed dishes in a canteen. In the 1990s, Lida fled to Bagratashen with her son and mother; her husband left her. In her first decade in Armenia, Lida worked as a prostitute, giving birth to seven children in the process. She left two of them at the hospital, another was stillborn and yet another died of hunger at five months. Now Lida lives with her sons Armen (18) and Artur (9), and daughters Mariam (16) and Maria (6), both named after Virgin Mary. Lida’s mother Asya has been dead for 3 years. Armen and Mariam have never been to school. They almost never leave the house, and are becoming wild and unsociable. Some seven years ago Lida moved with her family from a trailer into an apartment for refugees that has no electricity, water supply or indoor toilets. Lida gave up prostitution and started a petty trade in cigarettes, making less than enough for subsistence. Now she doesn’t work at all, and relies on social welfare: 30 000 drams (less than $100) a month. She and her kids are always hungry. Lida can't afford firewood. She collects garbage for fuel. Heavy smoke produced by burning plastic penetrates through the holes in the stovepipe, fills the apartment and colors everything black. It is hard to find an object in the household which is not black. The walls, curtains, bed linen and people in that place are all black. Ruben Mangasaryan regularly took pictures of this family starting in 2003 and until his death in 2009. Over these years, his photo story was published in local and international media and exhibited at festivals (Visa Pour L’Image (Perpignan, France), Photoquai (Paris, France), Interfoto (Moscow, Russia), Days Japan (Tokyo, Japan) etc.) Upon seeing his photos, people from various countries offered help. When the story appeared on BBC online news, Ruben received a lot of reader feedback. Many people from the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Russia and other countries sent Lida money, food and clothes. When help started flowing in, the Gadyans’ lifestyle improved. Later, when the charity campaign was over, Lida’s family lapsed back into its Black Life. Shortly before his death, Ruben Mangasaryan decided to take action to solve the Gadyans’ problems once and for all. “These people are unable to renounce their black life on their own,” he wrote several days before he died. “They are still living with the stress of the Karabakh war; they are isolated from the rest of the world. The mother has psychological problems, the grandmother is dead, and the children haven’t even been to primary school. If nobody helps them, they are doomed to live a black life.” A group in Facebook has been created which will be used to launch an action of solidarity aimed at changing this family’s life. The members of the group believe they can succeed and want the world to see that photography can help socially vulnerable people. This can serve a good example to society: people will realize that change can really happen.