CULTURAL GENOCIDE
Acts and measures undertaken to destroy the culture of a nation or an ethnic group is called "cultural genocide". Many facts prove that simultaneous with the massacres and deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the government of the Young Turks masterminded and implemented systematic destruction of the material testimonies of the Armenian civilization.
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
A genocide is the organized extermination of a nation aiming to put an end to their collective existence. The extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions during 1915-1923 is called the Armenian Genocide. Those massacres were masterminded and perpetrated by the government of Young Turks and were later finalized by the Kemalist government.
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The anguish of the Armenian Genocide, which is being reborn with every Armenian, has its own reflection in the Armenian fine arts. Many Armenian well known artists have created artworks both in Armenia and in Diaspora that are the speaking witness of the Armenian great pain, loss and yearning. These artworks are also ode to the Armenian viable genes, will power of giving birth, living and creation. Genocide is the type of crime that does have any expiration date. Human speech is sometimes powerless in expressing those things that are possible to express only through art. These 100 artworks will continuously tell the world about the unhealed wound of the Armenian, millions of innocent victims, demolished heartlands, bowed churches, lost homeland and infinite belief. The power of art is undeniable and artworks are eternal.
Artist:
Kaloust Guedel
Title:
Levitation, 2003
Location:
Modern Art Museum of Yerevan
Artist: Kaloust Guedel
Title: Levitation, 2003
Location: Modern Art Museum of Yerevan
Kaloust Guedel: "As an experimental artist throughout the years I have worked in various groups. "Levitation" is part of the Genocide group, of which I had no intention of creating to begin with. For me there are two primary approaches, that can be employed: one is to decide what to do and the other to do and then to figure out what has been created. This group came to life as a free exploration of the subconscious mind. After creating it, I realized, that it was a reference to the Armenian Genocide, which happened to be part of our individual psyche. Only lately I have come to realize, that for me the creation of the Genocide group was a necessary experience and served as a therapy to be able to move forward in life. All figures in "Levitation" are self portraits."
Artist:
Carzou (Garnik Zulumian)
Title:
Ruined Settlement, 1966
Location:
Artist's Family Collection
Artist: Carzou (Garnik Zulumian)
Title: Ruined Settlement, 1966
Location: Artist's Family Collection
Carzou: "The horrible destiny of the Armenian is also mine from the first days, when I lost my father and saw thousands of homeless people taken of Der-Zor."
Artist:
Krikor Momdjian
Title:
Komidas, 1986
Location:
Private Collection
Artist: Krikor Momdjian
Title: Komidas, 1986
Location: Private Collection
Krikor Momdjian: "This work is one of the series works I did as homage to Komidas. The composer who was also priest, was interested in the authenticity of the Armenian music. He went into Armenian villages to listen and put into music notes that he heard, as an ethno-musicologist avant la lettre. He became famous in Europe because of his concerts with his big choir. He was captured in Constantinople on 24th of April like the other Armenian intelligentsia by the Ottoman Empire. His manuscripts/music notations were destroyed. He was mistreated but saved by diplomats and was sent to Paris. Komidas lost his senses as consequence put in a psychiatric home. The last 20 years of his life he did not talk to anyone, except to his sister. I wanted to honor him inspiring me with his divine music. In my childhood listening to his music intensely in the cathedral of the Armenian cloister - seminary of Jerusalem, where I was a seminarian for three years. He is still my source of inspiration, bringing me to the source of the Armenian soul. His music evokes my admiration for the beauty of the nature and I feel the Divine Light reflected through his music and songs."
Artist:
Vatché Demirdjian
Title:
Massacre, 2014
Location:
Modern Art Museum of Yerevan
Artist: Vatché Demirdjian
Title: Massacre, 2014
Location: Modern Art Museum of Yerevan
MASSACRE on 8 pieces of canvas symbolizes that after the Genocide in 1915 all the Armenians have been scattered to different countries far from home.
Vatché Demirdjian. "I've been working on my painting for many years to bring all the victims of the Armenian Genocide to life. This theme is very painful for me. My grandparents survived the Genocide in Marash, they arrived to Lebanon in 1918 and in 1976 all my family went even further because of the civil war of Lebanon. I've got the same sad destiny as my grandparents. I'm in Paris now and I'm trying to survive by my art. I'm trying not to swim in the RED waters but get my head up... and never drown…"
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SHARED ARTS section.
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Artist: Adriana Angolian
Live Memory, 1994
Artist: Adriana Angolian
Gold Universe, 2016
Artist:
Khoren Der Harootian
Artist: Khoren Der Harootian
Ani (bronze), 1963
Artist:
Alexander Sadoyan
Artist: Alexander Sadoyan
Immigration
Artist:
Alexander Sadoyan
Artist: Alexander Sadoyan
Untitled
Artist: Levon Fljyan
Our Ancestors-2 (from Pixel 2 project), 2012
Artist: Kaloust Guedel
All Men are Created Alike, 2003
Artist: Zareh
Turkish Soup Made with Armenian Bones, 1998
Artist: Arthur Lazaryan
Never Again
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