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Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 18: 7-11pm
With oud musician Raffi Wartanian

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day Reading 
Tuesday, April 24: 7-9pm 
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After the Armenian Genocide, many Armenians were forced out of their homeland and into neighboring countries. The Armenian Diaspora is vast, varied, and always changing. The central theme for members of the Armenian Diaspora is being Armenian, though cultural references, food, and dialect might differ. For this exhibit, artists were asked to submit work responding to the idea of the Armenian Diaspora. The artists identify as Armenian, but each has a unique perspective on their shared history.

Liana Aghajanian
Shakar Mujukian 
Kamee Abrahamian
Rehan Miskci 
Alina Gregorian
Caroline Partamian

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Liana Aghajanian was raised in Los Angeles by way of Tehran after coming to the U.S. as a refugee. She is a journalist specializing in longform, narrative storytelling and international reporting. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Newsweek and other publications. She is the 2015 winner of the Write A House residency, a program for writers based in Detroit. Her project, "Dining in Diaspora," explores the intersection of immigration, identity and cuisine and traces the Armenian experience in America through food, exploring the intricate culinary history of Armenian Genocide survivors and their descendants and the contributions they made to the American food industry and diet. www.lianaaghajanian.com / www.diningindiaspora.com

Shak'ar Mujukian is an interdisciplinary artist / storyteller and creator of the hye-phen magazine. They're currently learning what games are at the NYU game center. 

Kamee was born in an immigrant suburb to an Armenian family by way of the SWANA region; and currently lives on settler land, uninvited. They arrive in the world today as a mother and an interdisciplinary producer, creative, and facilitator. They have a BFA/BA in film and political science (Concordia University), an MA in expressive art therapy (European Graduate Institute), and an MA in community, liberation, eco and indigenous psychologies (Pacifica Graduate Institute). The bedrock of Kamee’s artistic background is in classical ballet and dance, theatre, and visual art. Their current body of work spirals in-to and out-of fragmented time/place by way of film, performance, writing, transmedia, digital art and design. They work freelance under Saboteur Productions (founder) and collaboratively through Kalik Arts (co-founder). Kamee has co-created several award-winning projects (Setting Bones, All is Found) and works that have been both self-funded and supported by grant organizations (Dear Armen, World of Q). They have published both literary and academic written works, internationally exhibited and presented visual artwork, film (Dear Armen, All is Found), and performance (Dear Armen, Blood Ballet Cabaret), curated art spaces and events (Abrahamian Art Center, Alchemy of Waste), and facilitated workshops across Canada and USA.

Rehan Miskci (b. 1986, Istanbul) is a New York / Istanbul based visual artist working in photography, video and installation. She holds an undergraduate degree in Interior Architecture from Istanbul Technical University and an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Her work mainly deals with Armenian minority experience and displacement in relation to photography and physical space. Her photographic series “Void” was selected as the first place winner at Baxter Street Camera Club of New York’s Annual Competition in 2015, was exhibited in Lift Off at Fridman Gallery, curated by Elisabeth Biondi. She participated exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Munich, Reading and Istanbul. Her personal and commissioned work was published in magazines such as Vogue Turkey among many others.

Alina Gregorian is a poet and artist, and author of the chapbooks Flags for Adjectives (Diez) and Navigational Clouds (Monk Books). Some poems can be found in Boston Review, Prelude, BOMB Magazine, among others. Alina lives in Brooklyn, NY and can be found here alinagregorian.com.

Caroline Partamian is a musician, visual artist, and curator influenced by my training in dance. She works specifically with the concept of abreaction – the extraction of dormant memory stored within a muscle, resurfaced through physical movement, of which an individual was previously unaware; these memories span the spectrum and can take many forms – traumatic, erotic, or comforting. By focusing on the process rather than anticipated result, her work encourages what can be revealed when one becomes conscious of their kinetic movement in the process of creation. For more information about Caroline’s projects visit www.carolinepartamian.com 

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