An exhibition of paintings by Ezidi artist Siabando Sloyan has opened at the Museum of History of Yaroslavl, bringing together landscapes of Armenia, scenes from Ezidi life, seascapes and images of the Russian city he has called home for decades.
The exhibition, Siabando Sloyan. Painting, opened ahead of Russia’s Day of National Unity and runs from 31 October until 16 November 2026. It is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ezidis in the Yaroslavl region.
The exhibition tells the story of an artist whose life has moved between Armenia, Russia, construction work, family responsibility and a return to art after many years away from the canvas.
Siabando Sloyan was born in 1953 in the village of Mrghashat in Armenia. He showed an interest in drawing from childhood and later studied painting at the P. Terlemezyan Yerevan Art School, graduating with honours in 1977.
Life did not allow him to continue painting professionally at that time. He worked in construction and, during the 1990s, moved with his family first to Tambov and later to Yaroslavl. After a long break from art, he returned to painting and gradually rebuilt his artistic work.
This is not his first exhibition in Yaroslavl. In 2011, the same museum hosted an exhibition of his work titled The Return of the Artist, marking his renewed commitment to painting after approximately three decades away from it.
The current exhibition brings together several strands of his work. One group of paintings looks back towards Armenia through romantic landscapes and memories of his birthplace. Another portrays scenes from ordinary Ezidi life. Visitors can also see seascapes and paintings of Yaroslavl and its surrounding landscapes.
The Museum of History of Yaroslavl describes the works as paintings filled with a joyful appreciation for the colours of life. That description is visible in the exhibition’s approach: the paintings do not treat Ezidi life as something distant or exotic. They present memory, home, work, nature and daily life as parts of one continuous story.
The exhibition also matters because Ezidi art is being shown publicly in one of Yaroslavl’s main cultural institutions. It gives visitors an opportunity to encounter Ezidi identity through the work of an Ezidi artist himself, rather than through outside interpretations.
For Siabando Sloyan, painting appears to be both a personal return and a way of preserving memory. His works connect Armenia, Yaroslavl and the everyday lives of Ezidis through colour, landscape and familiar human scenes.
The exhibition is open at the Museum of History of Yaroslavl, 17 Volzhskaya Embankment, until 16 November 2026.
