home

100

years

100

arts

mission

The Armenian Genocide has left an irreversible trace in our history and in our spirits and the reflection of grief, yearning, hope is woven in chain in the Armenian fine arts. When human languages is powerless to express what happened in 1915, the language of art does have the power to do so. Different generations of Armenian famous artists have continuously addressed the great iniquity and the artworks dedicated to the Armenian Genocide have always had their unique places in their art. Armenian artists greatly contributed to the global acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide thought their art. Many of these works have been exhibited to public but even more of them are unknown till today.

100 years

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.

100 arts

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:

Eduard Isabekyan

Title:

Western Armenia, 1940

Location:

Artist's Family Collection

Artist: Eduard Isabekyan
Title: Western Armenia, 1940
Location: Artist's Family Collection

Eduard Isabekyan: "Memory is a very important thing. There is no other nation in the world that needs memory more than the Armenian nation. Because there is no other nation in the world that has left its property, its soil, 99% of everything owned to others. If Igdirtsis forget Igdir, Alashkertsis - Alashker, Vanetsis forget Van, Bayazettsis - Bayazets and etc If they forget that the entire nation never forgot where they are from. The Armenian needs our memory, for him to be able to own whatever his has lost, so as always to remember that he has to bring back whatever he has lost."

Artist:

Mkrtich Sedrakyan

Title:

Year 1915, 1960

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Mkrtich Sedrakyan
Title: Year 1915, 1960
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

The third stage of the planned extermination of the Armenian nation by Ottoman empire is expressed in one composition in Mkrtich Sedrakian’s "Year 1915" canvas. The first stage was enrollment of the Armenian men to Ottoman army, then disarmament and slaughter by the Turkish military associates. The second stage was the extermination of the Armenian intelligentsia and the third stage was the massacre of the women, children, elderly people by deporting them to the Syrian desert.

In the 60-ies Soviet Armenia the Armenian artists were prohibited to depict on theme of the Armenian Genocide. And only, in 1965, when the Genocide monuments was built in Tsitsernakaberd the ban barrier disappeared.

Artist:

Philip Hagopian

Title:

If Sand Could Speak, 2011-2012

Location:

Mane Gallery, Yerevan

Artist: Philip Hagopian
Title: If Sand Could Speak, 2011-2012
Location: Mane Gallery, Yerevan

Philip Hagopian: "If sand could speak what would it say? In the silent empty deserts of Der- Zor the sand holds a testimony that whole nations denies. The bones of my fathers, cousins, uncles, aunts, friends, and neighbors are crumbling there. The days of their rich lives, their laughter and love are whispering from those sands. The shock and torment of little children, families of a entire nation are screaming from witnessing these sands and now the world will hear them."

Artist:

Krikor Momdjian

Title:

Open Diary, 1996

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Krikor Momdjian
Title: Open Diary, 1996
Location: Artist's Collection

Krikor Momdjian: "Like an open book, we see on one side a photo-document in which we witness how in a barbaric way Armenians were slaughtered in 1915. I did not want to paint the image but used it as it is - an horrible evidence. When I saw this picture for the first time as a little boy, I was choked that human beings are capable of such acts. History seems repeating itself as we think about what is happening now in the middle east, not far from Anatolia, where the massacres of Christian Armenians and deportations occurred. But I believe we can change this, for the sake of future generations, by education and information in healthy thinking. showing empathy for other people and cultures to create a better world."

share your arts

Here, you can upload your artwork dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. The uploaded artwork will be published in the
SHARED ARTS section.
Note: the site carries no responsibility over the copyright genuinity issues in the SHARED ARTS section. But still if you come across possible violation of copyrights, please, do not hesitate to contact us via [email protected] email address.

shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian