About "To Artsakh"

The Story of a Humanitarian Crisis Told Through Art.

Pashinyan’s Surrender of Artsakh to Azerbaijan, Harut Sassounian, Horison Weekly, copyrighted

The Story

Armenians around the world are mourning the loss of our sacred land of Artsakh. This is especially painful for them due to their genocidal history that spans over a century, leading to losing two-thirds of their land and people. Ever since, they have been literally fighting for our lives holding onto the small but mighty land they have left.

The diaspora is grieving, but Artsakh Armenians are living a true nightmare- their lives turned upside down in a matter of days, ethnically cleansed from their generational land and uprooted from their homes. This is a story they have lived before.

For the first time ever, there are only about 50 Armenians left in Artsakh today. This was a systematic, strategic plan stretched over 9 months- starting with a blockade of food, aid, electricity and water, and ending with an attack that left Armenians helpless and forced to surrender, ending in Azerbaijani occupation of the land and 120,000 Armenians fleeing in fear of persecution.

The goal of this website is to educate viewers on the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh through visual art, written word, and media coverage. The viewer will have the ability to use their own perspective and lens to interpret history, statistics, information, and feelings told through art. The work is all inspired by Armenia’s loss of Artsakh in some way. I hope it can help raise awareness, funding, and promote healing.

The Artist and His Mother, Arshile Gorky, Whitney.org, copyrighted 2023 Whitney Museum of American Art

Media Coverage to Learn More:

Global Conflict Tracker

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The Art

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Click to Read About Each Painting

Borders

This painting is an abstraction of the shape of Artsakh and its borders. Blue would usually represent water, but in this case it is representing a piece of land that is no longer ours and feels like a void- almost like water on a map. There is an emptiness in every Armenian's heart. This piece is also intended to express the complicated context that borders can hold, and the power that a physical dividing line can have.

Empty Spaces

This painting is a still-life based off of observation to start, and later added onto with white details that allude to the existence, or pre-existence, of jewelry. This is a collision of the present real-life moment and an etherial presence of loved ones in their jewelry that's often passed down for generations.

Layers

This painting is a representation of the feelings one gets when witnessing a genocide of their people for the second time. The past becomes the present and the present gives us fear for the future. All become blended into one transparent and layered mess, feeling like weâ€™re disappearing and no one cares. Fingerprints are an integral part of the piece, as well as the creation of it because it was mostly made with my fingers rather than a paintbrush. This allowed for me to be more tactile with my emotions. Tears roll down.

The Inspiration
Activity: Find these inspirations in the Installation work "Mamik and Babik"

Activity: Find the similarities between the 1915 events mentioned in this memoir and the 2023 events mentioned above

Great Uncle's Memoir

Installation Work

My Mamik and Babik

Find the Inspirations

My Mamik and Babik

'My Mamik and Babik' is a tribute to the beloved sculpture 'We Are Our Mountains' by Sargis Baghdasaryan which resides in Artsakh- but not for long. Sadly, this iconic statue in the Armenian community will be taken down and destroyed by the Azerbaijani government, since we have surrendered to a war stretched over many decades to keep this land. 90% of its population was Armenian, being one of the three main ancient provinces of Armenia dating back to the 5th century. The historical Armenian sites are shown with red dots in a map on the upper left of the piece.

'Mamik and Babik' stands for 'Grandma and Grandpa.' This is evident of the feelings Armenians have tied to Artsakh. One can say this refers to the beautiful Mount Ararat, on which Noah's Arc landed, which now resides in Turkish land due to the 1915 Genocide.

References to the sculpture, mountain forms, and this 'high-peak, low-peak' contrast are found throughout the piece. The man is taller in the sculpture, yet I make the woman taller in some cases, referring to the gender roles in Armenian society. Playing on this further, I collaged myself with the most prominent Armenian artists through time, who happen to be male, to have a conversation about Armenian female artistry.

The maps on the upper left side with green splotches are indicative of the decreasing Armenian population over time. The yellow map on the bottom right shows Armenia pre and post genocide.

Mamik and Babik are wrapped and layered with fabric in order to appear as if they are clothed. Many Armenians never got to see our Mamik and Babik, so this is a way to interact with them as somewhat life-size figures.

Transferred on are some images from a year 2000 New York Times article on the village of Ani, which is now in Turkey and referenced as a newly accessible ancient kingdom to visit.

The table of contents is from my great uncle's memoir of his experience through the genocide.

We take pride in our history because it is the one thing they cannot take from us.

Visual Database of Armenian Populations Through Time
This piece is a visual representation of the several numbered groups of people that come about in Armenian history. Numbers have been such a potent part of explaining who we are as a people and what has happened to us, and still is happening to us. For example, when describing the Genocide of 1915, many people are unaware and not impacted until I mention the number 1.5 million as the death count. This number is used so often by Armenians; I feel like we become numb to the death that has plagued our people. This is why I decided to do a database visualization in the form of something beautiful and sacred to Armenians: pomegranates. These are the fruit of Armenia and a symbol of our country and fertile land. We also like to think of ourselves as seeds that have created a “New Armenia” even through all of our challenges.
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Becoming Me, A Version of Them

Process

Becoming Me, A Product of Them is a piece based on my personal relationship with my culture and ancestors. Throughout this course, I have explored the humanitarian crisis happening to Armenians, Armenia’s history, population, land, traditions, etc., but I have yet to tell my personal experience growing up in this culture with genocide survivors. It is a specific way to grow up that I did not realize until adulthood with all of my grandparents passed on. With this absence comes a presence of heavy responsibility and nostalgia every day my life is lived. I feel like I am alive by the slight miracle and chance that my great grandparents survived the genocide and found each other 10 years later to continue our bloodline. But then I remind myself that it is not by chance; it is because of their perseverance and diligence to survive. Often us Armenians can talk about our past and current situations with a victim mentality, like ‘look what has happened to us.’ However I’d like to reframe that for my sake as well. I would like to look through a different lens to see this story- to see my story- and this lens is a positive one. It’s a celebration of what we’ve grown, and what we’ve become.

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