Did you miss out on a past issue of QAMI JAN Magazine? Don't worry. We have you covered. 

About the May Issue: 

Issue No. 10 | Over Every Creeping Thing

The title of this month's issue is taken from the Book of Genesis, reflecting on mankind's obligation to care for "every creeping thing."

We release this Issue 10 of QAMI JAN Magazine as hundreds of people, led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, culminate their walk from northern Tavush region in Armenia towards Yerevan’s Republic Square. Since Saturday, they have walked nearly 100 miles. Composed of everyday people, men and women, children, interspersed with a few soldiers in ragged uniforms, they press on in a spiritual tide. Once they reach Armenia’s capital, they will make their plans and demands known. For now, we know that they oppose the Armenian government’s decision to gift neighboring Azerbaijan with four villages in Tavush—a unilateral concession that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated is “a security guarantee” that will “delegitimize the war, to deprive the war of any basis.” In other words, Armenian territory, entire homes and villages, are the flowers of J.G. Ballard's short-story “The Garden of Time” (the theme of this year's Met Gala)—pluck them, and we will delay Azerbaijan’s resorting to military escalation. 

In this issue, we are honored to have interviewed Patricia Kaishian, a museum scientist, mycologist, and writer. She speaks with us about lichens, fungi, unexpected but ever-present ways of relating to our world, and what happens when "the people who deeply love the land and who steward the land are violently removed and replaced with people willing to act so destructively . . . everyone (including non-human species) suffers." We also speak with Hamed Khadem, a botanist and horticulturalist living in Armenia. He explains to us the importance of the microbiome in the soil, its impact on trees, and what he has observed about agricultural practices in Armenia. And yes, we of course asked him about the Yerevan Municipality's controversial decision to cut down numerous diseased trees, last month, which provided much-needed shade during the hot summer days.

Cover image and many other photographs in this issue are by Dea Hovhannisyan.