A Student’s ‘We are Our Mountain’ Painting, Forcibly Removed from Exhibit, Carried to Mt. Ararat Summit

A group of climbers display the “We are our Mountains” painting atop Mt. Ararat

A story that sparked widespread public attention in Armenia has taken an unexpected and deeply symbolic turn. A painting by 11-year-old Artsakh native Eva Danielyan, which had previously been forcibly removed from an exhibition at Yerevan’s Anoushavan Ter-Ghevondyan Music School No. 1, was carried to the summit of Mount Ararat.

The symbolic act was dedicated to every individual’s right to memory and to the enduring values that no prohibition can erase, the participants said.

The controversial removal of the child’s painting was reported earlier this month by Artsakh Cultural Preservation Center, which said the school’s acting principal summarily removed the painting, deeming it “anti-state act.”

The 11-year-old Danielyan, who is a displaced Artsakh Armenian living in Yerevan, painted the “We are Our Mountains’ monument several days before an exhibition featuring students’ art, using bright colors she said reflected how she pictured it.

“I chose these colors because this is how I imagined it,” she said. “I really love these colors.”

Her art teacher, Sona Jarahyan, placed the painting in the exhibition area the evening before the event. It was gone the next morning after being removed on the administration’s orders. Jarahyan later returned it to the display, while Danielyan learned about the controversy only afterward.

“I never imagined that a painting about Artsakh would be removed from an exhibition wall,” Danielyan told an Armenia media outlet earlier this month.

Jarahyan, the art teacher, met with the school’s administration after the exhibition, submitted her resignation and left the school. She declined to discuss the circumstances in detail but has since found another job.

Danielyan said that she was devastated to hear about her teacher leaving, and said she planned to stop attending the Anushavan Ter Ghevondyan school and will follow her teacher.

In response to the removal of the artwork, Danielyan’s painting was put on auction online and was purchased last week Gayane Aghabekyan, an Artsakh native living in Moscow, bought the painting for $1,800.

According to members of the climbing expedition, the initiative to take Danielyan’s drawing to Mt. Ararat was their response to the incident, which generated broad public outrage both within and outside Armenia.

Danielyan’s artwork, the climbers said, was dedicated to the idea of returning to Artsakh.

“Memory cannot be erased,” one of the climbers said. “We wanted to express our support for Eva and demonstrate that justice and kindness stand above everything else, and that the most important values cannot be prohibited.”

The group also encouraged the young artist to continue creating, painting, and never fear to express herself freely through art.

“From the very first day we printed copies of the painting in Yerevan, we received overwhelming support from the public—both for Eva and for our initiative,” the participants noted.

The painting’s ascent to the summit of Mt. Ararat became a symbol of values that transcend any ban: memory, love for one’s homeland, and artistic freedom. Organizers emphasized that the story should serve as a reminder that creative expression cannot be restricted to serve any ideological agenda.

The organizers said they view the incident not merely as the story of a single painting, but as an opportunity to foster a broader public discussion about the right to freedom of artistic expression.

“Here, on the summit of Mt. Ararat, we have no doubt which painting carried the exhibition’s most meaningful and profound message,” they said.